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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 March 2015
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Mika Ninagawa: Self-image
24 January - 10 May 2015
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
(Tokyo)
On the first floor, Ninagawa's photographs float across the walls in tune to Keiichiro Shibuya's sound installation. The second-floor galleries feature previous series -- the phantasmagoric cherry blossoms of "Plant a Tree" and the ongoing monochrome self-portrait studies of "Self-image." The layout showcases Ninagawa's distinctive production talents as well.

Constellations: Practices for Unseen Connections / Discoveries
24 January - 22 March 2015
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
(Tokyo)
This ambitious show contemplates "unseen connections" via the metaphor of "undiscovered constellations" akin to the human and animal figures we see by drawing invisible lines between the myriad stars of space. Yusuke Arai's massive open-studio installation-in-progress will eventually cover the walls, ceiling, and floor of one entire gallery with an "earth painting" made of mud gathered in Asia, America, and elsewhere.
Kishio Suga: Situated Latency

24 January - 22 March 2015

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
(Tokyo)
This long-awaited solo exhibition by Suga, a leader of the Mono-ha (School of Things) movement, comes at a time when his art is enjoying a reassessment. Unwavering in his approach over four decades, he uses assemblages of stones, wood, and metal to create "landscapes of connectivity" that give prescient form to the networked society we live in today.
Tange by Tange 1949-1959: Kenzo Tange as seen through the eyes of Kenzo Tange

23 January - 28 March 2015

Toto Gallery MA
(Tokyo)
In this atmospherically designed presentation, dozens of contact sheets shot by the legendary architect himself are arrayed on long black tables, while similarly monochrome enlargements, graphics, and texts adorn the walls. It is as if Tange wanted to take possession of his own creations a second time via the camera lens.
Installing of the Exhibition "BNF" & Artist's Action

28 February - 29 March 2015
Artzone
(Kyoto)
The flyer says, "While setting up exhibitions at Artzone, it occurred to us that the installation process might actually be more interesting than the show itself." The curators have decided to test their premise by holding a pre-show show that offers the public a look at the installation process for Before Night Falls, a group exhibition opening on April 4.
Daido Moriyama: Tono 2014

18 December 2014 - 9 February 2015
Canon Gallery S
(Chiba)
It's been four decades since Moriyama published Tales of Tono, his acclaimed collection of photographs of the rural community of Tono in Iwate Prefecture. Last year he visited the region again. The 50 prints displayed here testify to the sure hand and eye with which the veteran photographer has scrutinized the land of Tono and its inhabitants. Yet it is not his extraordinary artistry, but the intensity of the lives lived on that land that gives these images such force.
National Treasure Gallery: Pine Trees

2 - 12 January 2015
Tokyo National Museum Japanese Gallery
(Tokyo)
For ten days the National Museum gave over an entire room to the late-16th-century master Tohaku's celebrated Pine Trees, a majestic sumi-ink painting that covers two six-panel screens. What appears to be a pair of flat panels in books or on the Internet is actually a zig-zagging tour-de-force that fully engages with the three-dimensional space of the gallery. Viewing what one might call a 2.5-dimensional work from a variety of angles is part of the thrill.
Kayu Nagai

9 - 31 January 2015
Gallery Natsuka
(Tokyo)
Nagai's landscapes depict big skies reminiscent of Romantic art. Though her style borders on illustration, the artist's fine touch with acrylic on paper or thin cloth yields textures closer to Nihonga or tempera in the service of paintings that are at once of and not of this world.
Kotobuki Shiriagari
8 January - 13 February 2015
art space kimura ASK?
(Tokyo)
Framed paintings of the same flower-vase motif fill the gallery -- 11 on the walls, six more on the floor. What makes this show unusual is that all of the works are rotating. Humanity has long dreamed of making pictures that move, and nowadays anyone can shoot their own movies on film or video. Perhaps it was Shiriagari's dream to make his paintings move as well.
wassa: Monolog
8 - 30 January 2015

ondo
(Osaka)
In recent years wassa's work has undergone a steady progression toward the sturdy and simple -- a stripping away of extraneous elements. One might say her paintings are starting to acquire the "wrinkles" of maturity. Also compelling are her sculptures of sitting human figures.
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