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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. |
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1 September 2014 |
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| Atsushi Fujiwara: "Nangokusho" and "Butterfly had a dream" |
| 28 June - 3 August 2014 |
Gallery Tanto Tempo
(Hyogo) |
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| In 2008 Fujiwara launched the magazine ASPHALT to give young photographers a place to publish their output. No longer involved in that project, he now has time to display his own work, which he did -- two series' worth -- at this Kobe show. Both collections are poignant reminders of the passion and substance that Japan has lost over the past two decades of the Heisei era. |
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| Norio Imai: Retrospective -- Reflection and Projection |
| 8 July - 2 August 2014 |
Art Court Gallery
(Osaka) |
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| This retrospective focuses on the seventies, when Imai had shifted from the white forms of his Gutai years to an interest in photography and video. Highlights are the 21-print photo series "Portraits 0-20 Years Old"; the Polaroid selfie project "Daily Portraits," which Imai started in 1979 and continues today; and the video installation "Jointed Film," which utilizes footage discarded unused from TV broadcasts. |
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| Yasuyoshi Sugiura: A Natural History of Ceramics -- Making Nature |
| 7 June - 3 August 2014 |
Otani Memorial Art Museum
(Osaka) |
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| Between the Ceramic Society of Japan Prize he garnered in 2012 and the installation he contributed to the 2013 Setouchi Triennale, Sugiura has been grabbing a lot of attention lately. This recent show introduced his series "Stones of Ceramics," "Ceramic Trees," "A Natural History of Ceramics," and the installation "Fallen Sal Tree Blossoms." |
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| Karen Okimi Solo Exhibition |
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Art Space Niji
(Osaka)
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| Okimi's paintings seem to be rooted in landscapes, but they are anything but figurative. Atop unbleached cloth coated with a transparent medium, diverse brushstrokes and swathes of color intersect in abstract patterns. |
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| Motoyuki Sakamoto: Inlay |
| 13 - 19 July 2014 |
Suigyoku Gallery
(Tokyo) |
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| Formerly a car designer for Nissan, Sakamoto was inspired by an exhibition of inlaid celadon to study ceramics on his own. In 1980, at age 30, he quit his day job to become a full-time potter. Since then he has studied ash glazes and other techniques, but recently has revisited his initial fascination with inlays. This is work with an aesthetic quite unlike the traditional Japanese tolerance for ceramics that carry traces of clay or the potter's hand. |
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| Aokid City Vol. 4: Cosmic Scale |
| 26 July 2014 |
Shibaura House
(Tokyo) |
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| Aokid City is a performance project by writer/director/performer Naosuke Aoki, a.k.a. Aokid. His m.o. is to gather a crowd of people in a particular space and have at it with a hodgepodge of audience participation exercises and hip-hop-inspired dancing. There's no real criterion for judging whether Aokid's work is art or not, but that's not the point. The pertinent question is whether the audience is capable of loving his work, however much it defies conventional performance norms. This viewer's impression was of theater that would not work in the confines of an ordinary theater. In that respect the airy, glass-walled ambience of Shibaura House was a good fit. |
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| Suzumi Noda: "Who can possess water?" |
| 28 June - 12 July 2014 |
Gallery Gallery
(Kyoto) |
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| Noda's recent solo exhibition demonstrated once again her mastery of a full battery -- weaving, dyeing, knitting, feltmaking -- of textile arts. Her work appears to be that of a free spirit, uninhibitedly pursuing her whims. But it succeeds precisely because those impulses are sustained by her multifaceted craftsmanship and what is clearly an inexhaustible urge to create. |
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| Ken'ichi Murata: Maiden Kannon |
| 30 May - 15 June 2014 |
Jinbochogarou
(Tokyo) |
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| Since the 1990s, when he converted an old mansion on the outskirts of Osaka into his studio, photographer Murata has been shooting aesthetically sophisticated images of female models, both clothed and unclothed. In this series he has the young women adopt poses that mimic statues of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy, yet are infuriatingly bawdy, and his subjects look defiantly self-aware. The effect is discomfiting but the artistry is undeniable. |
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