 |
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. |
|
|
 |
|
Art Award Tokyo |
| 4 April - 6 May 2008 |
Gyoko Basement Gallery
(Tokyo) |
|
| Held in an underground mall in central Tokyo, this show introduces works by 44 young artists selected from the graduate exhibitions of art colleges all over Japan. Though paintings predominate, there are video works and installations as well. Two up-and-comers of particular interest are Midori Sato (Nagoya University of Arts) and Daisuke Sumita (Musashino Art University). |
|
|
|
 |
|
| 101 Tokyo Contemporary Art Fair |
| 3 - 6 April 2008 |
Rensei Chugakkou
(Tokyo) |
|
| This is a new art fair with 28 galleries participating, half of them from overseas. The galleries occupied equal-sized sections of a floor of a former middle school in Tokyo's Akihabara district. Some 5,000 visitors attended the four-day event, which brought in 100 million yen in sales. |
|
|
 |
|
Ken Matsuyama: Search |
| 16 - 29 April 2008 |
Shinjuku Takashimaya Art Gallery
(Tokyo) |
|
| In these new paintings, Matsuyama depicts insects and young girls at the same reduced size amid pastoral landscapes. In the past he has painted giant human-size insects, so this is a departure in the opposite direction. If you don't look closely at the pictures you will miss the human figures entirely; "search" is indeed the name of the game. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Timothy Greenfield-Sanders: Injured Soldiers |
| 1 - 30 April 2008 |
MA2 Gallery
(Tokyo) |
|
| In these large-size Polaroid prints of American soldiers injured in the Iraq War, we see young people with missing limbs and severely burned faces. Because these are photos, we can stare at them in a way that would be unbearable if we met the actual person. The accompanying texts describe the subjects' lives after their injuries; but their faces and stories inevitably remind one of the Iraqis also maimed in this war. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Iichiro Tanaka: Spring Sale Show |
| 22 March - 26 April 2008 |
Yuka Sasahara Gallery
(Tokyo) |
|
| Winner of the People's Prize at last year's "Roppongi Crossing" show at the Mori Art Museum, the iconoclastic Tanaka offers a selection of his brilliantly conceived and often hilarious works. Including such masterpieces as a High School Baseball Tournament mobile sculpture and a 300-piece jigsaw puzzle of a blurred Mona Lisa, his oeuvre consistently strikes the right balance between underdone and overdone. |
|
|
 |
|
Miyuki Tsugami |
| 8 - 20 April 2008 |
Spiral Garden
(Tokyo) |
|
| These 24 new paintings on the theme of "24 Seasons" appear to be nonrepresentational, but (according to the artist) are inspired by natural landscapes. In any case the compositions, with their sure touch and original approach to color, stand on their own. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Oscar Oiwa: The Dreams of a Sleeping World |
| 29 April - 6 July 2008 |
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
(Tokyo) |
|
| Sao Paulo-born painter Oiwa addresses such issues as urban life, the environment, and war. What look like cityscapes, however, are actually "abstract paintings" in the manner of Gerhard Richter. Ultimately, Oiwa is more concerned with exploring the process of applying oils to canvas than with particular themes or compositional techniques. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Tokiyoshi Tsubouchi: MITATE-KANA |
| 4 - 26 April 2008 |
Project Space KANDADA
(Tokyo) |
|
| Graphic designer Tsubouchi began his career over twenty years ago as an art director for the magazine Calendar. This exhibit features what might be described as visual poetry, created with hiragana (Japanese syllabary) characters. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Kumiko Itano: saihate II |
| 1 - 6 April 2008 |
Gallery Maronie
(Kyoto) |
|
| This is sculptor Itano's second solo exhibition under the title "saihate" (furthest limits). Her unglazed white ceramics are like forces of nature; the forms evoke the powerful yet leisurely flow of wide mountain rivers. In all of these recent works, the juxtaposition of wildness with meticulous detail is tempered by an airy grace. |
|
|
|
 |
|
Tomoo Gokita |
| 1 - 26 April 2008 |
Taka Ishii Gallery
(Tokyo) |
|
| Gokita employs black-white gradations in surrealistic paintings of figures and landscapes that sometimes recall the work of Mark Kostabi, but are always unique. Recently he seems to have increased his work in the medium of black and white gouache.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
