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Picks is a monthly sampling of Japan's art scene, offering short reviews of exhibitions at museums and galleries in recent weeks, with an emphasis on contemporary art by young artists. |
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Aki Takemichi |
| 15 - 20 January 2008 |
gallery iteza
(Kyoto) |
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Takemichi says of his work, "I create creatures that have adapted to a world polluted by human beings as they evolve on an ever-changing earth." In this installation a huge stuffed object, patched together from purple-dyed scraps of cheap towels and recycled fabric, hangs from the ceiling. It resembles nothing so much as a giant, bloated, discolored human being.
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| Misaki Taguchi: Moyuge Boshi |
| 15 January - 16 February 2008 |
Fukugan Gallery
(Osaka) |
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| Osaka-based Taguchi's illustrations appear in every issue of the Kansai-area magazine "L". She also creates animations. Her drawings are deceptively simple, featuring eccentric, somewhat suspicious, extremely human characters. |
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Rissei Show |
| 25 - 27 January 2008 |
Rissei Elementary School
(Kyoto)
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| This three-day event utilizes the old Rissei Elementary School building in central Kyoto as a space for various performers, including composer Makoto Nomura, the Europe Kikaku theater company and the Makotocluv dance group, to showcase their work. This creative collaboration between artists and Kyoto citizens ingeniously melds the nostalgic atmosphere of the old school and contemporary performance art with surprising and energizing results. |
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| Sei Senkoji: Ultra-Individualism |
| 14 - 27 January 2008 |
Neutron
(Kyoto) |
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| Senkoji studied design and engaged in video production while in art school. During the 1990s he was associated with artists in such groups as the avant-garde Studio Shokudo, but later began creating art on the computer. His current works have as their subject the "group" as antithesis to the isolation of the individual. |
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Izumi Kon: Collection |
| 29 January - 23 February 2008 |
Megumi Ogita Gallery
(Tokyo) |
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| Kon gained attention early on for works shown in such venues as the 2002 "Fiction" show at Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art. She composes collages of everyday objects on tracing paper, then transfers the images to panels covered with thick cotton cloth. The objects she depicts in this manner acquire a remarkably expressive depth and solidity. |
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Furansowa Fujii |
| 7 - 19 January 2008 |
O Gallery eyes
(Osaka) |
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| Based in Nagoya, Fujii has been exhibiting paintings since 1993 and is also a writer of children's picture books. Her works employ the old Japanese techniques of Yamato-e and sumi-e but contain contemporary motifs and a sly sense of black humor. What might at first appear to be a rebuttal to tradition is in fact a borrowing of traditional styles to express timeless sensibilities. |
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Rogues' Gallery: 827 Drives |
| 12 January - 2 February 2008 |
nomart
(Osaka) |
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| The art unit Rogues' Gallery (Yasuhiko Hamachi and Yukihisa Nakase) gained notoriety for their "Gasoline Music and Cruising" sound performance project, in which they took guests on drives in a Citroen XM-X mounted with a special sound system. In 2006-2007 the duo drove the length of Japan, giving demonstrations and talk shows and recording their travels with car-mounted video and GPS equipment. The resulting video work provides a new benchmark for "event art." |
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Katsuki Tanaka: Matryonime |
| 16 January - 2 February |
Getsumin Gallery
(Osaka) |
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| Prizewinning animation artist Tanaka, who studied design at Kyoto Seika University, has also made a name as a manga artist. Since 2006 he has created animations for NHK's "Minna no Uta (Everybody's Song)" TV program of songs for children. This exhibit features animated sequences of gradually shifting pictures painted on Matryoshka (Russian nested) dolls. |
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Nishiki-e Newspapers |
| 12 January - 2 March 2008 |
Chiba City Museum of Art
(Chiba) |
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| The Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun and Yubin Hochi Shimbun, launched within a year of each other in the early Meiji Period, were the two representative nishiki-e (multicolored woodblock print) newspapers, a popular but short-lived genre that used the sophisticated printing techniques of ukiyo-e to illustrate the news. This show focuses on the often grotesque contributions of two illustrators, the great ukiyo-e artists Yoshitoshi and Yoshiiku. |
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Atelier Incurve Exhibition |
| 22 January - 3 February 2008 |
Suntory Museum
(Osaka) |
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| Atelier Incurve was founded in Osaka in 2002 by the Sookai social welfare organization to serve as an art studio for people with mental disabilities. Their lack of formal art training notwithstanding, the work of these "outsider" artists has received acclaim both in Japan and overseas, and challenges conventional notions of what constitutes "art." |
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