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Focus features two in-depth reviews each month of fine art, architecture and design exhibitions and events at art museums, galleries and alternative spaces around Japan. The contributors are non-Japanese art critics living in Japan. |
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Tokyo's New Gallery Row: Creative Space 8/ in Hikarie
Lucy Birmingham |
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| The entrance to Creative Space 8/ on the 8th floor of Hikarie |
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The Shokudo restaurant on the 8th floor of Hikarie, overlooking Shibuya Station and environs |
One of Japan's top contemporary art galleries, Tomio Koyama Gallery, has opened a space in the new Hikarie building in Tokyo's Shibuya district, a youth mecca where creativity and innovation set the energetic pace.
The 34-story highrise opened in 2012 across the street from bustling Shibuya Station. The minimalist interior is a far cry from the glass and marble towers built in Tokyo during the bubbly 1980s. One quickly senses that Japan has gone back to basics, with cost cutting in mind. The multi-purpose complex houses business offices, event halls, a theater, and numerous shops. Restaurants and casual eateries are priced mid-range, and designed with an accessible, homey feel.
Tomio Koyama Gallery is located on the 8th floor in a section called Creative Space 8/. As the name suggests, this is Hikarie's creative center. Here, the innovative design company D&DEPARTMENT PROJECT showcases specialty items and food from Japan's 47 prefectures at its d47 Museum, d47 Design Travel Store, and d47 Shokudo restaurant.
The restaurant offers a terrific bird's-eye view of Shibuya Station and its environs, along with a mouthwatering selection of reasonably priced set meals (teishoku), juices, liqueurs, sake, shochu and beer -- a true taste of Japan. The floor also features an open, flexible space called the Court, which is used for workshops, exhibitions, and short film presentations. Across the hall is Creative Lounge MOV, a members-only space popular with entrepreneurs and innovators. Many are connected with the growing number of Shibuya-based IT companies that are soaking up the neighborhood's youth-infused creative energy.
Around the corner is Cube, a rental gallery space featuring a variety of artists and art-related events. Next door is Tomio Koyama Gallery, a.k.a. the 8/ Art Gallery, which offers an intriguing variety of works by Japanese and foreign contemporary artists.
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| The Court, a multi-purpose space for film screenings, workshops, and other presentations |
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Cube, a rental gallery space with a display introducing the Setouchi Triennale 2013 art festival |
Koyama's Hikarie gallery is the sixth art space he and his busy staff have opened (one is located in Singapore). His regular artists number about 50 and include Yoshitomo Nara, one of Japan's most successful artists and Koyama's biggest seller by far.
The savvy gallerist knows a good deal when he sees one. His Hikarie space is a smart pick in a prime location with steady visitor numbers. Sales may not be as lucrative here as at his regular showings at art fairs and exhibitions abroad, but it's a perfect showcase for up-and-coming artists and mid-priced works, such as prints, by established names.
Location, says Koyama, was the reason he chose the space. "My [main] gallery in the Kiyosumi-Shirakawa warehouse district is on the far east side of Tokyo," he explains. "Of course art-related people and art collectors will visit there, but for ordinary people it's too far. So I've opened this space for those people. It's so convenient."
Japan's contemporary art market is small. Gallerists need foreign clientele to succeed. But interest in art collecting is slowly growing, particularly among Japanese in their late twenties through early forties. Koyama is hoping to tap into this budding market with his Hikarie space by offering works at affordable, mid-range prices.
Koyama's first shows at Hikarie in April last year drew in the crowds with prints by art star Damien Hirst and film director/artist David Lynch. Prices ranged up to about US$10,000. "People know the names, but it's very hard to find their works at a price most can afford," says Koyama.
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| A section of the Setouchi Triennale 2013 exhibit at Cube |
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Tomio Koyama at his gallery on the 8th floor of Hikarie |
He came upon Lynch's work for the first time in 1990 at a show of oil paintings and drawings at the museum where Koyama worked. "David Lynch has many big fans in Japan," he says. "When I heard from friends in Paris that Lynch had started making lithographs, I knew it was a good chance to show those prints at Hikarie." The prints sold out at about $4,000.
"Between the established artists, I'd like to show the young artists from my gallery," he adds. "Japanese like ceramics. One ceramic artist I showed from Sweden was very popular. I'd also like to show ukiyo-e and calligraphy. I have many ideas."
On view until April 8 are the paintings of young Japanese artist Yutaka Watanabe. From April 10 to 29 the gallery will feature prints by the celebrated Taro Okamoto. The seminal avant-gardist passed away in 1996 but his prolific works -- paintings, sculptures, public art, writings -- remain a powerful influence. His masterly 30-meter-long mural Myth of Tomorrow, depicting the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was installed in Shibuya Station in 2008. Now the millions who pass through the station daily are reminded of the horrors of nuclear war. The prints at Koyama's Hikarie gallery will be lithographs and etchings featuring face and eye motifs.
Following Okamoto will be a series of mezzotint prints by Katsura Funakoshi, known for his enigmatic camphor-wood sculptures, from April 30 to May 20. Korean artist Lee Youngbin will be exhibiting her delicate watercolors and ink drawings from May 22 to June 3.
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Gallery owner Tomio Koyama with artist Yuko Someya during an artist talk on opening day at the Tomio Koyama Gallery, Hikarie
All photos © Lucy Birmingham |
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Lucy Birmingham
Lucy Birmingham is a long-time, Tokyo-based journalist, scriptwriter, author, and former photojournalist. She writes regularly for TIME magazine and her articles have appeared in many publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Bloomberg News, and Architectural Digest. As an arts and culture writer her articles have appeared in publications including Artinfo.com, Artforum.com, and ARTnews. She is also a scriptwriter and narrator for NHK (Japan's public broadcaster) and has published several books including Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster.
lucybirmingham.com |
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