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Picks is a monthly sampling of Japan's art scene, offering commentary by a variety of reviewers about current or recent exhibitions at museums and galleries around the country.
Note: With the relaxation of the government's emergency measures to minimize the spread of the coronavirus, most museums in Japan have reopened, but many still require reservations. If you are planning a visit, please check the venue's website beforehand. |
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| Shiriagari-san, Hokusai-san: Show Time, with a Giggle! |
| 20 April - 10 July 2021 |
The Sumida Hokusai Museum
(Tokyo) |
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A pairing of ukiyo-e by the legendary Katsushika Hokusai with parodies of same by contemporary artist and cartoonist Kotobuki Shiriagari, known for his lightly absurdist touch. Boasting 160 works in all, the show is an excellent opportunity to appreciate the vast range of Hokusai's art, as well as to view his world from Shiriagari's puckish perspective. There are laughs aplenty, and not only courtesy of Shiriagari -- Hokusai himself was a humorist with a pronounced mischievous streak.
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| Sports Graphic Exhibition |
| 8 June - 7 July 2021 |
Ginza Graphic Gallery (ggg)
(Tokyo) |
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| A presentation of some 120 sports-related graphic works. Says the gallery: "How have Japan's leading graphic designers used the limited space offered by a single poster sheet to convey elation and impact evoking the sensation of movement, beauty in composition, fresh ideas, and critical humor? Focusing on outstanding works from the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympic Games to the present day, this exhibition explores the intentions of the artists and the background of the times to show how the unscripted drama of sports was captured on paper." |
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| As if Listening: Komako Sakai |
| 10 April - 4 July 2021 |
Play! Museum
(Tokyo) |
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| Komako Sakai (b. 1966) has authored over 20 picture books, many of them prizewinners, but this is her first solo exhibition in a museum. Designed by the artist to resemble her mountain residence and studio, the space is filled with sounds and images recorded by Sakai around her home, as well as with household toys and knickknacks. Some 250 original drawings of varying shapes and sizes are displayed in cedar-wood frames and cases amid which viewers can stroll as if through a forest. One surprise is to discover that Sakai works not only on drawing paper but on materials like cardboard as well.
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| Origami Architecture |
| 9 April - 3 June 2021 |
Gallery A4
(Tokyo) |
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| Subtitled "Fold the World's Modern Architecture from a Piece of Paper," this show presented miniature replicas of some 80 world-famous structures -- all in the form of origami. Architect Masahiro Chatani (1934-2008) introduced the concept and methodology of "origamic architecture" in 1981. Buildings are essentially abstract structures that cannot be entirely replicated through the medium of folded paper, so the challenge is to retain the structure's most fundamental and distinguishing elements -- simplifying it without losing its identity. |
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| Keiko Masumoto: Blue Birds / Blue Ceramics |
| 6 May - 25 June 2021 |
Wacoal Study Hall, Kyoto
(Kyoto) |
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| Motifs ranging from birds, pine trees, deer, and octopi to pagodas, haniwa figurines, and even space shuttles protrude from the surface of ceramic vessels. Ceramist Masumoto (b. 1982) liberates these normally flat-painted ornaments from the body of the vessel, disrupting conventional hierarchies of sculpture vs. craft, function vs. decoration, body vs. accessory. To this complex interplay between two and three dimensions she adds a touch of humor, creating works of sublime craftsmanship that have the friendly accessibility of pop-up picture books.
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Ryuichi Ishikawa: The Inside of Life |
20 March - 18 April 2021 |
SAI
(Tokyo) |
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| For the past five years or so, photographer Ishikawa (b. 1984) has been teaming up with survival climber Bunsho Hattori, trekking in mountains with minimal equipment and living off the land. Taken with the strange beauty of the flesh and innards of the creatures they hunted, he began photographing the titular series, 42 prints of which were displayed in this solo show at SAI, a new gallery in Shibuya's Miyashita Park. |
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| urauny: urauny dinner |
| 10 April - 5 May 2021 |
Whitehouse
(Tokyo) |
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| Another imponderable installation by urauny, an enigmatic artist of unknown gender, age, and nationality. As suggested by the "dinner" of the title, the gallery was set up as a restaurant open to four customers in one-hour segments, by reservation only. No conversation was permitted. The "food" served by the silent staff (the artist, perhaps?) was revealed, after the fact, to consist of preparations of organic, all-natural cosmetics. Though edible, the dishes were not (in this reviewer's opinion) very palatable. Confronting this repast was to confront the world outside us, and the reality that for the duration of our lives, we are constantly being eroded from within and digested from without. |
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| Aya Fujioka: Trajectory of Flowers |
| 6 - 30 May 2021 |
Fugensha
(Tokyo) |
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| To prepare for this solo exhibition, photographer Fujioka reviewed her portfolio and noticed that she had taken a lot of pictures of flowers. In many cases the flowers were not her intended subject, but it struck her that something could be learned from their frequent, if inadvertent, appearance in her work. In the accompanying text she muses, "Perhaps flowers function as a metaphor for life that helps me affirm my own existence." Indeed, these images exude a unique aura that could be described as the "flower" of Fujioka herself.
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| Daisuke Morishita: Dance with Blanks |
| 16 April - 5 June 2021 |
PGI
(Tokyo) |
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There are all kinds of "blanks": the dark shadow of something placed in front of the camera lens; the sky; a wall; a hole; objects popping up in unexpected places. As a concept, blanks may seem to resemble the Buddhist idea of emptiness, but photographer Morishita prefers to leave the word undefined, or rather, let it be defined by the many examples he enjoys finding. This loose approach worked well in his recent solo show at PGI. That said, a viewer looking for some sort of unifying message in these photos would be disappointed. Every image is well thought out, but the photographer doesn't seem to be taking them too seriously.
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