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.
2 May 2014
| 1 | 2 |
Maruyama Okyo
21 December - 23 March 2014
Shokokuji Jotenkaku Museum
(Kyoto)
This was the first public unveiling of Painting on a Fusuma of Shokokuji Kaizando, a work by the celebrated Edo-era artist Maruyama Okyo (1733-95), his son Ozui, and a team of disciples. But that was not the only highlight of this assemblage of works associated with Shokokuji, one of Kyoto's most august Zen temples. A wealth of sketches by Okyo testified to the sublimity of his brushwork, at once vigorous and meticulous, as well as his powers of observation and his dedication to study.
Ex. Resist vol. 2
14 - 23 March 2014
Galaxy - Gingakei
(Tokyo)
This group show of graduates of the Resist photography workshop (launched in 2006 and headed by Masayuki Yoshinaga) featured six artists: Kenji Kawamoto, Megumi Tanimoto, Hiroto Hoshi, Hiromasa Takeuchi, Atsushi Okada, and Jiro Ohtani. The works on display visibly shared a commitment to the direct physicality that is a hallmark of the snapshot.
Rina Matsudaira: Unseen the Tropical
4 - 16 March 2014
Gallery Morning Kyoto
(Kyoto)
Having just completed her graduate work at Kyoto City University of Arts this spring, Nihonga artist Matsudaira is already painting works of profound presence and superb technique. This solo show featured a large piece inspired by the legend of the "feral girls" Amala and Kamala, allegedly raised by wolves, as well as several smaller portraits of women. The eyes and mouths of her subjects exude a mystical power that, together with the artist's fecund imagination, make for works of irresistible impact.
Konryu-Onsen Art Festival
8 - 23 March 2014
Various locations in Atami
(Shizuoka)
For two weeks in March, this art festival made its mark on the somewhat dilapidated but still charming seaside hot-spring resort of Atami by adorning storefront windows along its shopping streets with the cheerful cartoon-like work of artist uwabami. The main exhibition space was a former pachinko parlor in the Maruya Building, where works by Masamitsu Katsu, Kohsuke Kimura, Yohei Kondo, Tadayuki Tahara, Tatsuo Majima, and Yu Toida (who organized the festival) filled the ground floor and basement.
The 8th Shiseido Art Egg: Madoka Furuhashi
7 - 30 March 2014
Shiseido Gallery
(Tokyo)

Formerly an architect, Furuhashi has arranged such objects as a chair, a pot, and a goldfish bowl around or atop old tansu cabinets salvaged from her mother's house. Purporting, in the artist's words, to "ascertain the spaces and frameworks formed by art through the presentation of everyday objects as artworks," these juxtapositions yielded some truly beautiful installations.
Introduction to Archives XI: Takemiya Invitations
3 - 28 March 2014
Keio University Art Center
(Tokyo)
In 1951, when there were precious few galleries or art museums in Japan, Gallery Takemiya opened in downtown Tokyo and, for the next six years, presented a series of radical shows curated by artist and critic Shuzo Takiguchi (1903-79). This collection of invitations, leaflets, photos and other materials associated with the gallery appears a bit drab at first glance -- color printing was an unaffordable luxury in those postwar days -- but the plain-looking texts burst with valuable archival information, from critiques to endorsements to exhaustive lists of the titles and sizes of exhibited works.
Yusuke Yamatani: ground
20 March - 6 April 2014
POST
(Tokyo)
For his "ground" series, Yamatani photographed the floors of rock clubs, enlarged the prints to life size, and glued them back on the floor. The works on display have been trampled, shredded, and otherwise abused; cigarette butts and hair remain stuck to the corners, arousing a perverse curiosity in the viewer. The shots seem almost theoretical in their objective, as if intended to answer that old question: just what is a photograph?

Hirotsugu Horii: Voices
10 - 22 March 2014
Art Gallery M84
(Tokyo)
This solo show by Horii, winner of the Grand Prix at Akarenga Open Portfolio Audition 2013, focused on the everyday lives of gay couples. As the photographer explains in his notes, the distinctively gentle camerawork is an attempt to find a "middle ground between setup and snapshot." In place of loud physicality, he creates textures that evoke quiet submersion in a body of water.
Emiko Aoki: Like a Spring
20 - 30 March 2014
Toho Art
(Tokyo)
When trying to describe a work of abstract art, we often liken it to something concrete. Some descriptions of Aoki's paintings to date might include "suburban landscapes under twilight skies" and "blood with foreign matter precipitated to the bottom." This time, however, she has betrayed any expectations we might have had with nearly monochrome works that emphasize brushwork and abstractions featuring a horizontal line across the lower half of the plane.
no-r-malization: The World of Art Brut in Japan
1 - 23 March 2014
Borderless Art Museum NO-MA
(Shiga)
A museum that showcases art by persons with disabilities, NO-MA celebrated its tenth anniversary this year by showing over 400 art-brut works from Japan and Taiwan at six sites around the city of Omihachiman. Among the artists were Japan's Shinichi Sawada, who participated in the Venice Biennale, and Taiwan's Wei-Hsuan Lin. Works by six Taiwan artists appeared at the Omihachiman Municipal Kawara Museum, which is normally devoted to roof tiles, one of the city's prize products. The aura of the century-old building permeated the senses, adding an otherworldly flavor to the exhibition.
| 1 | 2 |