HOME > PICKS
Picks :

Picks is a monthly sampling of Japan's art scene, offering commentary by a variety of reviewers about exhibitions at museums and galleries in recent weeks, with an emphasis on contemporary art by young artists.
15 January 2013
| 1 | 2 |
Art & Music -- Search for New Synesthesia
27 October 2012 - 3 February 2013
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
(Tokyo)
The third installment of the "Tokyo Art Meeting" series, this show on the theme of music and the visual arts introduces works from John Cage on. It is interesting to see how distinctions between the two forms of expression fall aside as concepts and processes overlap in the pursuit of the unifying goal of "art."

Tadanori Yokoo: Han-han-puku-puku-han-puku
3 November 2012 - 17 February 2013
The Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art
(Hyogo)
Occupying a renovated wing of what was formerly the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Y+T MOCA was built to house works donated or loaned long-term by famed Hyogo-born artist Yokoo. This inaugural show focuses on Pink Girls, Y Junctions, and other series of paintings featuring motifs the artist has frequently revisited over the years.
MOT Annual 2012: Making Situations, Editing Landscapes
27 October 2012 - 3 February 2013
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
(Tokyo)
In this year's group exhibition of young artists at MOT, it appears as if the participants all decided to create works using the museum or the show itself as a motif. They range from Hiroaki Morita, who covered pieces of paper with such messages as "museum fixtures were re-created as handmade objects," to Koki Tanaka, who exhibited nothing at all, with artists like Motoyuki Shitamichi and Yuichiro Tamura somewhere in between.
Aida Makoto: Monument for Nothing

17 November 2012 - 31 March 2013
Mori Art Museum
(Tokyo)
With a Japanese title that translates as "sorry I'm a genius," this is a retrospective of the past two decades of work by one of that rare breed, an artist who precisely grasps his position in society and the arts and, maintaining that stance, continues to supply the savage work that all have come to expect of him. Aida's latest opus, Jumble of 100 Flowers, does not betray those expectations.
Lieko Shiga: Rasen Kaigan (Spiral Coast)

7 November 2012 - 14 January 2013
Sendai Mediatheque, Gallery 4200
(Miyagi)
Viewing Shiga's photographs in Sendai Mediatheque's sixth-floor gallery was less a visual experience than one of physical exertion, of wandering through a landscape with no beginning and no end. The images, large and small, that filled the space (240 works altogether) seemed like views of Nirvana from a multitude of angles -- or perhaps an exploration of the interior of the photographer's head.
Tadashi Kawamata: Expand BankART

9 November 2012 - 13 January 2013
BankART Studio NYK
(Kanagawa)
This monster installation utilized the entire BankART building by Yokohama harbor. A summation of sorts of Kawamata's work around the world, this one uses lumber from demolished buildings, as he often has in the past. The choice of materials is not arbitrary; window frames were obtained from a nearby public housing project slated for demolition, and the use of pallets is, the artist says, an homage to the building's former life as a shipping company warehouse.
Sakura Fukushima: blue background

21 November - 9 December 2012
Bambinart Gallery
(Tokyo)
On a painted landscape -- a surrealistic vista of a house, or a fence, no human figures in sight -- certain motifs are covered with embroidery. Needlework as art is not a novelty in itself, but artists who sew atop paintings as Fukushima does are a rarity. Though embroidery tends to be too readily associated with femininity and personal hobbies, Fukushima's work shines with possibilities well beyond that.

Kayo Yamaguchi

2 November - 16 December 2012
The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
(Kyoto)
This big retrospective covered the entire oeuvre, including many recently unearthed early sketches and drafts, of the celebrated Nihonga artist Kayo Yamaguchi (1899-1984), known for his paintings of birds, beasts, trees and flowers. The movements of his animals, viewed from diverse angles, are particularly full of life and power. Above all, this show made one appreciate the eye of an artist for whom "looking" was a spiritual discipline.
Keiko Sasaoka: VOLCANO
23 October - 4 November 2012
photographers' gallery / KULA PHOTO GALLERY
(Tokyo)
The subjects of VOLCANO are the peak Asahi-dake in Hokkaido and the volcanic island Miyake-jima. Sasaoka has printed these sprawling landscapes on large folio-size sheets. The photographer has consistently included tiny human figures in her scenery -- no doubt a commentary on the relationship between humanity and nature, but in her work both entities seem on the verge of fading to the point of extinction.
Daisuke Morishita: Shapes of Name
29 October - 4 November 2012
Gallery RAVEN
(Tokyo)
The exhibition title notwithstanding, the shapes in these photos are indistinct -- out of focus, fragmentary, sometimes impossible to identify. Perhaps Morishita is attempting to redefine "named" objects as "unnamed" or even "unnameable." Protruding into several shots is a hand that appears to be his. The work speaks of an irresistible compulsion to reconstruct the world through photography.
| 1 | 2 |