pitch.com | Culture | Beyond Pop | The Kemper shows that Asian art isn't all cute.

"It was a lucky coincidence. A few short days after seeing the Past in Reverse contemporary Asian art show at the Kemper Museum, I heard a segment on Public Radio International's Studio 360 about notions of 'cute.' Interviewers discussed cuteness with sources such as a psychiatrist who has found that we don't love big eyes just because of their association with puppies; we are, in fact, neurologically wired to say 'awww.' Hence the allure of those creepily cute Sad Eye Kid paintings -- available at flea markets, estate sales and yard sales near you.

But I didn't catch that interview. Nor did I catch the interview with the anti-cuteness spokesperson, though I wish I had. As fate would have it, I was driving around only during an interview with Japanese pop-art legend Takashi Murakami, whose adorable, well-designed art and toys have taken the world -- the Western world, in particular -- by storm, making the artist an international sensation. Murakami has promoted other noteworthy Japanese pop artists, too -- Yoshitomo Nara, Chiho Aoshimo and Aya Takano to name only a few. The last of these almost inspired me to get a tattoo, with her fabulous drawings of women doing backbends, their abdomens transforming into horizons of strange worlds." (more at link)