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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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| Tomoko Konoike: Inter-Traveller |
| 18 July - 27 September 2009 |
Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
(Tokyo) |
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| This massive exhibition is not so much a retrospective as the creation of a myth narrated by blending old and new works of the artist together. The story Konoike tells through her paintings and sculptures, and indeed through the layout of the show, is of a "journey to the center of the Earth." Entering at the "Earth's Surface," the visitor passes through galleries labeled "Crust,""Outer Mantle" and so on, finally reaching the "Center" at minus 6,377 kilometers. |
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| Koizumi Meiro |
| 25 July - 8 November 2009 |
Mori Art Museum Gallery One
(Tokyo) |
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| In this solo show, video artist Koizumi presents two works, his new "My Voice Would Reach You" (2009) and his best-known piece, "Human Opera XXX" (2007). "Voice" features a young man phoning his mother and entreating her to accompany him to a hot springs resort. The mix of embarrassment and sincerity in his voice amid the din of a noisy Shinjuku street is sublimely authentic . . . or so it seems at first. What might appear to be a comedy about "discommunication" is in fact a masterpiece that scrambles inner and outer human realities to get at the truth beyond words. |
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Shadow - exhibition obscura |
| 25 July - 11 November 2009 |
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art
(Hyogo)
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Originally designed for the sight-impaired, this unique annual show, now in its 20th year, encourages visitors to appreciate works of art through touch rather than sight. This year's edition, on the theme of "reconsidering the meaning of ‘to see'," is presented by sound artist Yukio Fujimoto, who alongside his own works has assembled bronze sculptures by Rodin and Bourdelle, paintings by Jiro Takamatsu, and prints by Odilon Redon.
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Art Every Day!! Summer Museum for All Ages |
| 18 July - 6 September 2009 |
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The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma
(Gunma) |
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This annual summer exhibition is billed as being "for children and adults alike," but the works featured this year -- by Yusuke Asai, Taisuke Abe, Taro Izumi, and art unit KOSUGE1-16 -- hardly fit the typical profile of family-oriented art, nor are they overwhelmed by the vast gallery spaces of the museum. All of the works on display are excellent and make one eagerly anticipate the next stage in each artist's career.
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| Shinnosuke Kousaka |
| 28 July - 2 August 2009 |
Gallery Suzuki
(Kyoto) |
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The exhibit consists of two gargantuan, 2x5-meter woodblock prints. In both, the primary motif is a whale. In "Daybreak," which hangs on the wall, a whale floats in mid-air, but portions of it have metamorphosed into a city, a mountain range, a waterfowl. The work on the floor, "Names of Trees and Plants," is a landscape in which a whale appears as an island and the near shore is covered with an array of food items. The artist has clearly imbued these whales with his own yearning for the eternal verities of Nature.
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| Kohei Nawa: Transcode |
| 19 September - 17 October 2009 |
nomart Contemporary Art
(Osaka) |
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| This exhibition of new works on his native Kansai turf follows multimedia artist Nawa's acclaimed solo show at Maison Hermes in Tokyo. Nawa tends to extrude his art through the process of playing and experimenting with raw materials. Here he tries out some new media, notably film in such works as "Dot-Movie." As always, it is fun to speculate on what direction Nawa will move in next. |
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| My Artful Life: The Joy of Painting |
| 17 July - 30 August 2009 |
Galerie Aube
(Kyoto) |
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| This show introduces three artists who never went to art school and began painting late in life: Shisuko Tohmoto, Suma Maruki and Saku Ishiyama. Whereas most outsider art tends to feature figurative motifs, Ishiyama's works are completely abstract. Painted in vivid colors on large canvases, full of stripes and swirls, they are stunning in their impact. |
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Kohei Yamashita: Cairn, Present Location
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| 16 July - 22 August 2009 |
INAX Gallery 2
(Tokyo) |
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| Yamashita's installation of two- and three-dimensional works is a fusion of art and the outdoors. The motif throughout is mountaineering. A colorful iconic image against a black background initially appears to be a mountain climber, but on closer inspection proves to be composed of multicolored circles, which under further scrutiny turn out to be collages of found images. Yamashita's mountains serve as an arena where the stereotypes of mountaineering -- as mystical experience or leisure activity -- fight it out. |
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| Views of a New Generation 2009 |
| 27 July - 8 August 2009 |
Gallery Natsuka and other galleries
(Tokyo) |
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| This is the tenth concurrent series of exhibitions organized by the Tokyo Contemporary Art Gallery Meeting, made up of galleries in the Ginza/Kyobashi district of downtown Tokyo. Standouts included Takashi Kato's Dadaist photos and videos at Gallery K, Shino Yanai's beads-on-washi-paper compositions at Gallery Q, and Yuji Ichikawa's crystal-like patterns at Gallery Kobayashi. |
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| Naoaki Yamamoto |
| 11 July - 6 September 2009 |
The Hiratsuka Museum of Art
(Kanagawa) |
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| This retrospective features over 60 works by Yamamoto, who since the 1980s has devoted himself to a contemporary take on Nihonga painting. Included are his "Door" series, inspired by his time in Prague, and his recent "Return" series, as well as drawings and early works from the 1970s. Though Yamamoto is often associated with mythological or religious images, the works here tend to evoke explosions, crashes, barriers and ripping asunder. His imagination is, in a word, subversive. |
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