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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.
1 April 2015
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Masahito Koshinaka: algorithm
21 March - 29 April 2015
CAP Studio Y3
(Hyogo)
Shooting images of crowds and flowers, photographer and video artist Koshinaka scrutinizes phenomena we tend to overlook along the spectrum between the group and the individual. Here he presents works inspired by doubts he experienced in his work as a volunteer for a reconstruction-support housing project in Kobe.

The 18th Exhibition of the Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art
3 February - 12 April 2015
Taro Okamoto Museum of Art
(Kanagawa)

Named after the influential avant-gardist, the Okamoto Award is given to artists whose works evince a liberated perspective and an incisive social message, in the spirit of Taro himself. This year's prize went to the two-man art unit Yotta for Kintoki, a gaudily decorated, fully functional sweet-potato vendor's cart built atop a standard-issue sedan.
Demitasse Cosmos: Glitter of Jewelry

7 February - 5 April 2015

Mitsui Memorial Museum
(Tokyo)
Yasuhiro and Tomiko Suzuki spent 40 years amassing their collection of over 500 demitasse coffee-cup sets, of which some 300 are exhibited here. While there are plenty of Japanese collectors of European porcelain, the Suzukis appear to be in a class of their own when it comes to the demitasse.
Toho Studios: Innovative Filmmakers in Setagaya

21 February - 19 April 2015

Setagaya Art Museum
(Tokyo)
A must-see for Japanese-film buffs, this is a thorough look at the history of Toho Studios, the museum's legendary neighbor in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward where postwar classics like Godzilla and Seven Samurai were made. Offering reams of documentation, the show covers the eight decades from the studio's birth in 1932 as the Photo Chemical Laboratory, through its golden age in the fifties, to its current reincarnation as a studio-for-hire.
Hanshinkan Fashion Style: Osaka + Kobe 1950s-1970s

17 January - 7 April 2015
Kobe Fashion Museum
(Kyoto)
Highlighting the work of Kansai-region designers Chiyo Tanaka, Kazue Harada, Yasuko Ueda, Kensuke Ishizu, and Hiroko Koshino, this show looks at the fashions that emerged after World War II in the Hanshinkan district, a strip of upscale suburbs on the southern flanks of Mt. Rokko between Osaka and Kobe. Augmenting the couture are displays of ads, posters, and cosmetics of the era, creating an ambience that does a good job of carrying the viewer back in time.
Exhibition as Media 2014: phono/graph - Sound, Letters, Graphics

21 March - 12 April 2015
Kobe Art Village Center
(Hyogo)
The phono/graph project aspires to give form to research into the relationships among sound, text, and graphics, as well as the societal conditions that generate them. Participating artists and art units include Hiroyoshi Suzuki, Kazuhiro Jo, Yukio Fujimoto, Ryota Yagi, Nicole Schmidt, intext, and softpad. A special exhibit features works produced in an on-site silkscreen studio.
Kana Ohtsuki Laboratory II: Kami Deconstruction Drawing

12 February - 6 March 2015
ondo
(Osaka)
In this second of a series of "extras" added to her regular solo exhibitions, painter and illustrator Ohtuki showcased her experiments with drawings. Creating collages of drawings she has produced in the past, she says she is attempting to "see the nature of those works again and try various possibilities of expression." On many days she could be found in a corner of the gallery engaged in a work in progress.
Enku and Mokujiki: A Prayer with a Smile

7 February - 22 March 2015
Sogo Museum of Art
(Kanagawa)
Both Enku (1632-1695) and Mokujiki (1718-1810) wandered throughout Japan carving countless Buddhist statues from wood. This show provided a unique opportunity to see the two masters' works side by side. Comparing their respective approaches to a shared theme was an entertaining and edifying exercise.
Takao Kano Solo Exhibition
10 - 22 February 2015
Gallery Nakai
(Kyoto)
Kano creates his ceramic objects by packing and firing a mixture of pulverized chamotte (fire-resistant brick) and feldspar in jar-shaped molds. Full of holes and fissures, these "pots" are clearly not for everyday use. The rough, gritty surfaces enhance the impression that these are discarded relics of some ancient civilization. But coming as they do from Kano, scion of a long line of ceramists, they are actually a challenge to reconsider the nature of ceramic art.
Ayaka Asano: U-Turn Gaze
3 - 21 February 2015

Tachibana Gallery
(Osaka)
A young artist already known for her prints of urban scenes and works that use words as motifs, Asano offered something different in this recent solo show. Her new works include copperplate prints of human faces (her own as well as those of friends, acquaintances, and popular entertainers) and collages of product packages, wrapping paper, and receipts. The latter represent a significant departure in their introduction of physical objects and information into her work.
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