WE ARE WELL acquainted with Isamu Noguchi’s iconic Akari light sculptures. The lovely little frameworks of bamboo covered with off-white washi paper (whose design dates to 1951) are the sort of thing uncompromising incense fans own. But who knew that 25 of the more than 170 Akari iterations currently in production are screen printed with flourishes of color or pattern. The decorative printed additions range from pure abstractions (alternating bands of black and white) to simplified pictures (knocked-out bow ties) to Japanese design motifs. “The appeal of the colored versions is they have more cultural specificity than the unadorned ones but [still] achieve the timeless, placeless universality of Noguchi’s best work,” said Dakin Hart, senior curator at the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, N.Y.

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