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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 February 2012 |
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| Kazuyoshi Usui: Showa 88 |
| 9 - 22 December 2011 |
Zen Foto Gallery
(Tokyo) |
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| All of the photos in this series are bathed in pink -- and a loud, in-your-face, electric pink at that. Yet the color does not so much assault the eye as gently seduce it with a saucy vitality. Indeed, pink may be the perfect hue to symbolize the raw energy of the late Showa years, remembered for Japan's phoenix-like ascension from the ashes of World War II. But the color's impact on the viewer may also involve subconscious associations with more immediate history: our brutal encounters this past year with earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. The gallery has also published a limited-edition volume by the same title -- replete with all-pink cover. |
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| Seiichi Shibata: Solo Show |
| 18 November - 24 December 2011 |
Gallery Yamazaki Fine Art
(Hyogo) |
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| Shibata is best known for his "layered pattern" series, produced by cutting colored paper into patterns and layering them to form complex, mandala-like images. This show centers around several of these works, some of which measure two-and-a-half meters across. But it has the air of a retrospective that aspires to showcase Shibata's diversity, as it also introduces his explorations in other, entirely different media: carved-wood relief works depicting convenience stores and shrines, and even some of his earliest solid objects, which resemble hairy fruit. |
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| Genius High School!!!! Coming Out!!!!!!!! |
| 25 - 27 November 2011 |
Various venues in Koenji
(Tokyo) |
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| This was a group show, spread across several tiny venues in Tokyo's Koenji district, by students at the Bigakko art school, under the tutelage of maverick art unit Chim Pom's Ryuta Ushiro. And indeed, Chim Pom's influence was palpable throughout. Though derivative, Chinami Usuda's video/performance piece was worthy of note. This involved charming strangers on the street into giving her cigarettes or toilet paper, then distributing them at the gallery, reminding one of Chim Pom's "It's Me" performance, in which they tried to convince total strangers to let Chim Pom wire them money -- a reverse takeoff on the notorious "it's me" scam that preys on elderly Japanese parents. |
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| Tokio Maruyama: install-action |
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Toki Art Space
(Tokyo) |
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| Veteran photo/video/performance artist Maruyama labeled his recent show an "install-action," and as befits the title, he scheduled three "short actions" -- "mapping," "tracing," and "sticking" -- in the course of its run. This visitor was moved to muse that works which reference the March 11 disaster as a motif, as this one did, run the risk of seeming glib, and even inauthentic, if they are made too perfect or too comprehensible. This is, however, a general observation that does not necessarily apply to Maruyama's work. |
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| Shouhei Fujita |
| 2 - 17 December 2011 |
Roku Roku Dou
(Kyoto) |
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| Ceramicist Fujita lives in Kyoto, but as an artist in demand throughout Japan, he rarely exhibits in his hometown. This show, which presented some 60 pieces -- a lot for a Fujita exhibition -- was a valuable opportunity for Kyotoites to view his work. Though known for his ability to create pieces that are at once functional vessels and abstract objets d'art, here he departed from his style to date with such works as an ornamental carp and a mackerel sliced in half. What all these pieces share in common is the application of some astonishingly detailed decorative work. Clearly Fujita is an artist who does not rest on his laurels. |
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| Takehisa Yumeji in the Memory |
| 11 November - 25 December 2011 |
The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
(Kyoto) |
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| Since 2006 the Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (MOMAK) has been gradually acquiring the massive art collection of Kobe printmaker Hide Kawanishi (1894-1965). Fully a third of Kawanishi's trove consisted of works by a contemporary of his, poet and self-taught painter Yumeji Takehisa (1884-1934). Commemorating the completion of the museum's acquisition of the more than 1,000 works in the Kawanishi Collection, this show focused on Yumeji, best known for his unorthodox but charming paintings of women. (Note: MOMAK is closed for renovations until April 6.) |
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| Keiko Hiromi: Drag Queen 2011 |
| 2 November - 24 December 2011 |
gallery bauhaus
(Tokyo) |
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| Based in Boston for the past decade, photographer Hiromi previously exhibited works from her Jacques Cabaret series at gallery bauhaus in 2009. This second show once again features the drag queens at Jacques, but there is a sense that Hiromi has dramatically altered her stance as photographer in the intervening years. Indeed, she says that, rather than seek to minimize her own presence as in the past (like a "fly on the wall"), she has consciously acknowledged it in her more recent work. Hiromi also has ongoing projects that focus on the mostly African-American residents of her Boston neighborhood and on the lives of fundamentalist Christians. |
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| Yukihiro Yamagami: Sheltering Sky |
| 29 November - 11 December 2011 |
Gallery PARC
(Kyoto) |
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| Yamagami's forte is what he calls "canvas projection": expressing the movement of time and light by projecting video images onto his canvas paintings of deserted city streets. The current series at this solo show continues in this vein, but his new tableaux, drawn in pencil, eliminate most of the color from the cityscapes. The effect is to bring into sharper relief what Yamagami really wants to see there; it is also remarkably pleasing to the eye. |
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| Maiko Haruki: view for a moment |
| 18 November - 24 December 2011 |
Taro Nasu
(Tokyo) |
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| Starting around the time of her 2010 show at Taro Nasu, "possibility in portraiture," Haruki has been admitting human figures into her camera frame, albeit as fleeting passersby. The human presence has the salutary effect of welcoming the viewer into the scene as well. Her new series, "view for a moment," is particularly invigorating for its clearly defined concept and impeccable execution, leaving the impression that Haruki's work as a photographic artist has evolved to a new level. |
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| Mayumi Hosokura: KAZAN |
| 2 December 2011 - 15 January 2012 |
G/P Gallery
(Tokyo) |
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| Hosokura (b. 1979) has already earned accolades for her photography in Europe, but this is her first solo show at home. Her "KAZAN" (Volcano) series combines portraiture, nudes, landscapes, and crystal-like objects. Another series consists of portraits or still lifes printed on aluminum sheets. Both series are impressive, but the lack of any discernible connection between them leaves the viewer a bit disoriented. Still, they do testify to Hosokura's mastery of diverse media of self-expression at a relatively young age. |
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