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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 June 2014
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Yosuke Takeda: Stay Gold
22 March - 19 April 2014
Taka Ishii Gallery
(Tokyo)
There's a young photographer on the scene who displays not only impressive artistic instincts but a keen sense of both scale and unknown possibilities. Takeda's work does not have an immediately identifiable style or theme. Rather, he seeks to capture the real world as he sees it from every conceivable angle. It's an ambition that bodes well; he may even grow into one of those rare creatures, the "total photographer."
Naoki Ogawa
14 - 19 April 2014
O Gallery eyes
(Osaka)
Ogawa's oil paintings trigger imagined recollections of stories seen in a daydream, but these are not random fantasy images. They spring from everyday sensations and impressions, with motifs that one has seen somewhere before, somehow. Landscapes swirl like ripples on a pond and colors melt into one another, forming an unsettled surface that draws one deeper into the world beneath the canvas.
Shishi Yamazaki Solo Exhibition: "Video Girl Yamazaki"
12 April - 11 May 2014
Kyoto City University of Arts Art Gallery
(Kyoto)
Animation artist Yamazaki (b. 1989) creates her works by the analog process of tracing actual film images and reproducing them in watercolors one frame at a time. Not only is every frame meticulously rendered, but together they move fluidly in sync with the rhythm of the soundtrack. The result is pleasing enough to bear repeated viewings. What's especially intriguing is the perfect harmony achieved between animated images by a Japanese woman in her early twenties and a soundtrack consisting of 1970s French exotica.
Tohoku: Through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers
19 April - 18 May 2014
Fukushima Museum
(Fukushima)
Photography critic/historian and Tohoku native Kotaro Iizawa curated this exhibition of diverse images of Japan's northeastern region, captured by nine photographers and one photo collective who represent a range of ages and styles. Sponsored by the Japan Foundation, since March 2012 the show has visited 24 cities in nearly as many countries, among them China, the Philippines, and Italy. Eventually it will make the rounds of over 40 cities worldwide.
MOT Annual 2014: Fragments -- Incomplete Beginnings
15 February - 11 May 2014
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
(Tokyo)

"Fragments" was the theme of this year's MOT Annual, 13th in the series that showcases young Japanese contemporary artists. A preponderance of the works seemed to consist of peculiar objects fashioned from everyday materials. Two outstanding examples were the Roman ruins made of pumice by artist twins Akiko and Masako Takada, and abstract sculptures produced by carving the surfaces of glass bottles, by Shinya Aota.
Toshiyuki Kuwabara: Eye
15 - 20 April 2014
Galerie 16
(Kyoto)
The artist has removed the crystalline lens from the eyeball of a pig, placed it over a camera lens, and recorded what can be seen through this unorthodox optical device. Over time the transparent pig's-eye lens dries out, finally turning into a white powder, at which point the image vanishes altogether. Thus the work imparts new meaning -- through the prism of art, so to speak -- to the romantic view of science as a means of apprehending the world beyond death.
Aya Kametani: Sea, Ground, Human and Sky
15 - 27 April 2014
Gallery Keifu
(Kyoto)
"An inverted world" is the theme of this exhibition of lacquer art by Aya Kametani. Her objects float lightly in midair and seem to expand into the space around them. Not only does the work demonstrate lacquer's profundity as a mode of expression, but it enchants with the richness of the artist's vision -- giving concrete form to delicate images that look as if they could be swept away by a slight gust of wind.

Jun Fujiyasu: empathize
13 - 24 May 2014
The Third Gallery Aya
(Osaka)
As part of its "824" project introducing young artists, the gallery hosted a solo show by photographer Fujiyasu on the subject of twins, of whom Fujiyasu is one. Through his work he explores issues of identity and relations with others, as in his "DZ" (for dizygotic) series, in which he portrays himself and his brother, and this latest one, which presents pairs of twins photographed separately.
From Hakubakai to Kofukai: Aspects of Japanese Oil Painting
21 March - 6 May 2014
Tokyo Station Gallery
(Tokyo)
This show looks back on a century of Western-style art in Japan as purveyed by two artists' societies: Hakubakai, founded by Seiki Kuroda and others who imported pleinairism to the country during the Meiji era, and Kofukai, formed after the dissolution of the first group. Perhaps because the participants sought to elevate Japanese art as a collective endeavor, rather than pursue individual success, there is something solid and reliable about the works shown here.
Tsubakikai 2014: Shoshin
10 April - 25 May 2014
Shiseido Gallery
(Tokyo)
This latest edition of the Shiseido Gallery's long-running (since 1947) series of group exhibitions features five artists spanning several generations: Genpei Akasegawa, Naoya Hatakeyama, Rei Naito, Zon Ito, and Ryoko Aoki. Elder statesman Akasegawa offers 90 pencil drawings of classic cameras that suggest a love of photo equipment bordering on fetishism. Hatakeyama contributes a series of photographs of transmission lines in a mountainous setting; the structures look like nothing so much as art installations erected in the midst of nature.
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