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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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| Shimada Tadashi: Wild Moments |
| 23 July - 23 September 2019 |
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
(Tokyo) |
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| Celebrated for his shots of birds in their habitats, Shimada has devoted himself to avian photography since graduating from college in 1971, earning plaudits for images that illustrate the splendor of the world of birds. From his first picture of a shrike, taken in 1969, to his most recent output, this show presented over 180 of his works. Advances in digital technology allow for instantaneous snapshots and greater freedom of color expression, and Shimada's latest work confirms the impression that such developments have expanded the possibilities of nature photography. |
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| Tsuneo Enari: The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |
| 23 July - 19 August 2019 |
The Gallery, Nikon Plaza Shinjuku
(Tokyo) |
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| Enari (b. 1936) approaches as close as he can to mementos and relics from the atomic bombings, "exposing" their corporeality through his precision color camerawork. His straightforward, unpretentious style, together with the detailed explanations that accompany each photograph, force us to confront these places where a terrible energy unleashed temperatures of 3,000 to 4,000 degrees and winds of 400 meters per second at the hypocenters of August 6 and 9, 1945. |
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| Emerging Artists: Oh, This Is About Home. |
| 13 July - 25 August 2019 |
Kawaguchi Art Gallery
(Saitama) |
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| The two young artists selected for this show, the eighth in a series, offered work on the titular theme of "home." Masahiro Hasunuma, known for his use of the kinora, a device for viewing flip-book animations, displayed animated manga based on his interviews with residents, mostly from overseas, of the housing complex next door to the gallery. Nao Uesaka constructed a city of miniature high-rise condos from stacks of plastic clothing cases, turning each drawer into a tiny apartment with tiny shoes and other household objects, complete with silhouettes of human figures behind frosted glass. |
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| The Yamamura Collection: Gutai and the Japanese Avant-Garde 1950s-1980s |
| 3 August - 29 September 2019 |
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art
(Hyogo) |
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| The Yamamura Collection consists of 167 postwar avant-garde works by 68 artists amassed by businessman Tokutaro Yamamura (1926-86), a resident of Nishinomiya, Hyogo, and acquired by the museum in 1987. Featuring 140 of those works, this is the most comprehensive exhibition of the collection yet. But its real significance lies in the fact that it does not merely bring together some famous art, but traces the history of the collection as gleaned from interviews and documentation. In an effort to give visible form to that history, the curators have arranged the works in the presumed order of their acquisition. |
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| Nananano: My Aesthetic Feeling 2019 |
| 9 - 25 August 2019 |
Jinbocho Gallery
(Tokyo) |
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| This exhibit of model Nananano's "Group Nudes" series, which she has worked on since 2016, exudes a refreshingly casual, liberated air. She recruits her models via social network services, outfits them with minimal props -- gloves, veils, white socks -- and maintains a relaxed mood at the photo shoots. This m.o. imbues her images with a playfulness and freedom not found in most female nude photography, which tends to be commercialized according to the dictates of the male gaze. |
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| Churashima Textiles: The Magic of Color and Pattern |
| 10 August - 23 September 2019 |
The Shoto Museum of Art
(Tokyo) |
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| Bingata, the traditional Okinawan stencil-dye technique, produces patterns that have a warmth and charm quite unlike the glossy beauty of Yuzen dyeing. This show introduced woven and dyed fabrics from Okinawa in Bingata and other styles, including modern works by Living National Treasures. "Churashima" is an appellation meaning "beautiful islands," but it more properly applies to the former Ryukyu Kingdom than to Okinawa per se, and the bright reds and yellows of Bingata are emblematic of Ryukyu culture. Interestingly, though, many of the motifs -- pines, peonies, phoenixes -- resemble those commonly used on the Japanese mainland. |
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| Ota Kijiro and Fujii Koji: A Painter and an Architect Pursuing Light in Japan |
| 13 July - 8 September 2019 |
Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo
(Tokyo) |
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| This juxtaposition of work by Western-style painter Ota and architect Fujii is inspired more by their professional interactions than by a shared aesthetic. Granted, both studied in the West, and both sought to incorporate natural light in their works. But their most noteworthy point of intersection was Fujii's design of Ota's home and studio. As the photos and models on display attest, Fujii, who devoted most of his career to residential architecture, did an admirable job of illuminating Ota's atelier with northern light. |
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Yunoki Samiro: Choju-giga |
13 July - 8 September 2019 |
The Museum of Modern Art, Hayama
(Kanagawa) |
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| I only knew of Yunoki (b. 1922) as a textile-dye artist who was influenced by the Mingei folk-craft movement. Thanks to this exhibition I learned that he also produced prints, picture books, and sculptures -- and that if anything, these media more effectively highlight his talents as an artist. Early in his career Yunoki struggled to find a place between the polarities of fine art and craft, West and East, artist and artisan. His work suggests that his creative impulses could not be confined within the "beauty of function" framework espoused by the Mingei movement. |
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| Yurie Nagashima x Kei Takemura: Now and Then |
| 13 July - 1 September 2019 |
The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma
(Gunma) |
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| Nagashima has reconstructed memories of her grandparents and their life in Takasaki, Gunma through such series as SWISS, based on photos her grandmother took of flowers in her garden; Home Sweet Home, photos of her own life in Gunma since age 18; and past, perfect, progressive, in which she employs the photogram method to reproduce dried flowers bequeathed by her grandmother. To this installation Takemura contributed her distinctive assemblages of everyday items, photos, and embroidered fabric. The two sets of works complemented each other nicely, establishing a smooth connection between the two artists' worlds. |
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