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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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1 September 2008 |
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Cape Farewell: Art & Climate Change |
| 6 July - 31 August 2008 |
National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation
(Tokyo) |
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| Planned to coincide with the Toyako Summit, this exhibition was organized by Cape Farewell, a project in which international teams of scientists and artists collaborate on Arctic expeditions and artworks on the theme of climate change. Participating artists included Antony Gormley, Rachel Whiteread, and Shiro Takatani. |
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| Trace Elements: Spirit and Memory in Japanese and Australian Photomedia |
| 19 July - 13 October 2008 |
Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
(Tokyo) |
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| This photo exhibition has a very 21st-century theme: the evolution of contemporary photomedia from a means of documenting events into one of fabricating or inventing multiple memories and experiences. The ten featured artists include Teiji Furuhashi, Lieko Shiga, Philip Brophy and Jane Burton. |
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Hiroshi Asada |
| 19 July - 13 October 2008 |
Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
(Tokyo) |
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| An oil painter and copperplate printmaker, Asada (1931-97) produced work that was surreal and meticulously detailed, even fetishistic in its craftsmanship. This retrospective of his paintings includes selected works from the major Kyoto show last year that commemorated the 10th anniversary of his death. |
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| Yoshitaka Yazu: The Corona |
| 15 - 20 July 2008 |
Art Space Niji
(Kyoto) |
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| Born in 1980, Yazu is a protean artist who expresses himself in video, sculpture, and painting. This new installation uses LED lights and giant factory fans to explore the mythical motifs of the solar eclipse. |
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Fumiko Shioga: Corner Light |
| 8 - 20 July 2008 |
neutron
(Tokyo) |
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| Describing her theme as "the universal in the individual, the eternity in a moment," Shioga paints photorealistic oils that evoke the emotional power, however evanescent, that light brings to nature. |
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Kimihiko Okada: Aluminum Landscape |
| 5 July - 28 September 2008 |
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
(Tokyo) |
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| In the MOT's Sunken Garden, architect Okada has placed a 6.5 meter high aluminum mountain -- actually, more of a mountain range -- built out of layers of crushed aluminum foil. Part of MOT and Bloomberg's collaborative Public ‘Space' Project, it does indeed resemble a snowy peak. |
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Hugues Reip: Parallel Worlds |
| 26 July - 28 September 2008 |
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
(Tokyo) |
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| There have been some memorable shows lately with titles like Parallel Visions and Another World. Now we have Parallel Worlds, in which French multimedia artist Reip displays "worlds of the imagination" constructed by him and ten other French and Japanese artists he has chosen. Works by Jacques Julien, Michel Blazy, and Yutaka Sone are of particular interest. |
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Studio Ghibli Layout Designs |
| 26 July - 28 September 2008 |
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
(Tokyo) |
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| It seems that every summer brings another show centered around the popular animated films of Studio Ghibli. This year's version features some 1,000 layouts, the blueprints of animation. Layouts are basically rough pencil sketches with some light coloring that were never intended for public view -- but several hundred thousand anime fans will throng to see them, as the museum well knows. |
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Art Osaka 2008 |
| 25 - 27 July 2008 |
Dojima Hotel
(Osaka) |
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| In its second year at this location, a downtown Osaka hotel, this unique art fair occupied 47 guest rooms (up from 26 last year), each one a separate exhibit space occupied by one of 47 participating contemporary art galleries in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. If the crowds that filled the rooms are any indication, Japan's art market is as superheated as they say. |
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Hisako Masuda |
| 21 July - 2 August 2008 |
O Gallery eyes
(Osaka) |
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| Masuda's paintings depict landscapes and sensations that we tend to overlook in the course of our daily lives. Her exquisite use of color exudes multiple layers of expression.
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