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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 March 2018

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Kumagai Morikazu: The Joy of Life

1 December 2017 - 21 March 2018

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
(Tokyo)

Kumagai (1880-1977) is popular for his simple, subdued colors and forms. His early work, however, was darker both in tone and theme -- even death made an occasional appearance. He did not begin using his trademark reddish-brown outlines until around 1930, and his flat color planes appeared in the 1940s, when he was already over 60. In other words, the artist Kumagai of popular imagination did not emerge until he was nearly 70. This reviewer for one was less captivated by his later work than by those earlier, darker efforts.

Greenland by Fujiko & Ukichiro Nakaya

22 December 2017 - 4 March 2018

Ginza Maison Hermès Le Forum
(Tokyo)

An exhibition featuring the work of fog sculptor Fujiko Nakaya and her late father Ukichiro Nakaya, a scientist and essayist known for his research on snow. Since the debut of Fujiko's first fog sculpture at the Osaka Expo in 1970, she has showcased this unique medium around the world for nearly a half-century. Her m.o. is to release fog at specific intervals in the gallery. There is something a little radical, even violent, in this spewing of white vapor into a space ordinarily occupied by works of art.

Tanikawa Shuntaro

13 January - 25 March 2018

Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
(Tokyo)

A multimedia retrospective of the protean poet's vast oeuvre, extending from words to objects and images. Much of the gallery space is devoted to a series of photos by Tanikawa (b. 1931) collected in SOLO, a book issued by Daguerreo Publishing in 1982. The display eloquently testifies to the value Tanikawa himself placed on his highly personal approach to photography. Having long suspected that the poet was probably a very good photographer, this reviewer was especially happy to see that hunch borne out.

Things we have to treasure, things we have to share: Selected works by Haga Hideo

4 January - 31 March 2018

Photo History Museum FujiFilm Square
(Tokyo)

Born in 1921, Haga is one of the eldest active photographers on the planet. This show boasts a selection of his representative works in the field of folklore photography, a specialty he has pursued since the 1950s. Divided into three categories -- festivals, life ceremonies, rice-farming rituals -- these 29 images bring Haga's approach into sharp relief. What makes him so effective as a folklore photographer is his winning combination of professional objectivity as a compiler of ethnographic data and delighted participation in the rituals he chronicles.

Naotaka Hirota: F Era

5 January - 31 March 2018

Nikon Museum
(Tokyo)

Hirota (b. 1935) may be Japan's premier train photographer. The "F" in the title refers to the Nikon F, his tool of choice since 1961, when he began using it to shoot steam locomotives, particularly on the northern island of Hokkaido. Compared to the work from Hirota's "F era," train shots taken with digital cameras certainly benefit from the fruits of technological progress, but they seem to be missing something fundamental. Perhaps this is a genre on the verge of a return to its roots.

Kikuji Kawada: Los Caprichos -Instagraphy- 2017

12 January - 3 March 2018

PGI
(Tokyo)

Named after Goya's legendary series of etchings, "Los Caprichos" is a photo series produced by Kawada between the late 1960s and early 1980s. With new images making up a third of the 89 on display, this is not so much a retrospective of a past project as it is a reconstitution. Light and breezy yet sharply ironic, the mood of Kawada's work in "Los Caprichos" is something one hopes the photographer will continue to explore and expand on in the future.

Yuko Mohri: Grey Skies

2 December 2017 - 28 January 2018

Fujisawa City Art Space
(Kanagawa)

Fujisawa native Mohri has garnered considerable attention lately for her installations. Here, one room features a translucent mug that tips automatically while a video of waves lapping the seashore plays across it; the effect evokes someone downing a foaming head of beer. In the installation Parade, musical instruments and other objects discarded by schools are roused to action by the music of Erik Satie. Yet another gallery is filled with intriguing tubular gadgets inspired by the measures taken to contain water leakage at subway stations.

Ukiyo-e of the Late Edo and Meiji Periods

5 January - 25 February 2018

Ota Memorial Museum of Art
(Tokyo)

Ukiyo-e are generally thought of as a popular art form of the Edo period (1603-1867), but they were still being turned out in great number during the Meiji period (1868-1912). Being a time of relative peace and stability, the Edo era mostly spawned genre pictures of actors, courtesans, scenic spots, and erotica. With the national turmoil stirred up by the arrival of Perry's "black ships" and the end of the Shogunate, however, motifs shifted to foreigners in open ports like Yokohama, railroads, city buildings and streetscapes, and war. The newer ukiyo-e also adopted the Western techniques of shading and perspective.

Constellation of Six

5 - 23 January 2018

Ginza Nikon Salon
(Tokyo)

Nikon celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Ginza location with a group show featuring 33 works by six photographic luminaries, all born between 1934 and 1951: Masaaki Yamamura, Masahisa Fukase, Kenshichi Heshiki, Kiyoshi Suzuki, Tahara Keiichi, and Hiroshi Yamazaki. The gallery was filled with a vibrant tension, with every print on the wall radiating its own distinct energy.

Yoshihiko Ueda: Apple Tree

2 December 2017 - 13 January 2018

Tomio Koyama Gallery
(Tokyo)

On a trip to Gunma Prefecture in November 2013, Ueda happened to see a tree full of ripe apples from his car window. The image so inspired him that he came back to photograph the same tree in the same season, yielding the "Apple Tree" series on display here. Ueda has always given much thought to how best to express his own physical and psychological experiences through the medium of the photograph. The intensity of his concern occasionally results in conceptual wheel-spinning, but in these down-to-earth images theme and technique are perfectly blended. (See this month's Focus for a review of a current Ueda exhibition.)

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