Incorporating a variety of media, by artists such as Yayoi Kusama and Takashi Murakami, the show also includes a number of younger artists whose works use kawaii, or the quality of being “cute,” to explore their society and culture.

Western styles such as pop, minimalism, and feminist art are visible in the works, but the results are also uniquely Japanese in interests and approach. This exhibition highlights a particularly fertile period of artistic experimentation in Japan, one that has generated a unique blend of ideas and forms from East and West.

The picture shows ‘If the Double Helix Wakes Up...’, 2002, Takashi Murakami,

The exhibition runs through February 10, 2008, at Rabb Gallery. -- www.mfa.org