仙人の桜、俗人の桜 : にっぽん解剖紀行 [Sennin no sakura zokujin no sakura]

by Genpei Akasegawa, 赤瀬川原平

Japanese

237 pages, Tankobon Hardcover

Published January 1, 1993

About the author

Genpei Akasegawa (Japanese: 赤瀬川原平) is a rare phenomenon, an artist who successfully transitioned from the avant-garde to the larger realm of popular culture. He emerged on the Japanese art scene around 1960, starting in the radical “Anti-Art” movement and becoming a member of the seminal artist collectives Neo Dada and Hi Red Center. The epic piece Model 1,000-Yen Note Incident (1963-1974), which involved a real-life police investigation and trial, cemented his place as an inspired conceptualist. His irreverent humor and cunning observation of everyday life made him popular as a writer, peaking with his 1998 book Rõjinryoku, in which he put forth a hilariously positive take on the declining capabilities of the elderly. Hyperart: Thomasson, marks a crucial turning point in his metamorphosis from a subversive culture to a popular culturatus.