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Picks is a monthly sampling of Japan's art scene, offering commentary by reviewers and curators about current or recent exhibitions at museums and galleries around the country.
Note: Although Japan's state of quasi-emergency has been lifted, many museums and galleries still require reservations or have other anti-Covid measures in place. If you are planning a visit, please check the venue's website beforehand. |
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1 November 2022 |
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| Nawa Kohei: Generative Interface |
| 18 June - 20 November 2022 |
Towada Art Center
(Aomori) |
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Say the curators: "The title Generative Interface shows the concept underlying production of all Nawa Kohei's works. In his PixCell series, where surfaces change form in filmic fashion with the shifting of perspectives caused by the lens effect, and Biomatrix (W) in which bubbles erupt in a grid pattern from silicon oil, constantly shifting interfaces subtly stimulate the vision, sharpening the viewer's sensibilities. Nawa's concept focuses on the ‘skin' as interface between matter and sensibility, against a background of the reality of perception and cognition in the digital era."
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| Stones and Plants |
| 23 September - 20 November 2022 |
Shiga Museum of Art
(Shiga) |
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Stones and plants: two very familiar natural phenomena that have long served as materials as well as motifs in art. This exhibition brings together 85 works, primarily from the museum's collection, that portray or utilize stones and plants in paintings, prints, sculptures, photographs, and videos. Some are accompanied by detailed descriptions of the materials used to make them. (See this issue's Focus for a detailed review.)
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| FormSWISS |
| 5 October - 20 November 2022 |
Kyoto ddd Gallery
(Kyoto) |
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The inaugural show of the Form project launched by Design Studio &Form takes a look at Swiss design. In the words of &Form founder Arata Maruyama: "Focusing on designers from small villages and towns in Switzerland who are influencing the world of design beyond national borders, the exhibition will also feature video interviews with 15 designers from design universities and museums, exhibits by top designers representing current Swiss design, and panel discussions with creators from various fields. Through these and other means, the exhibition presents a multidimensional introduction to the diversity of Swiss design, education, lifestyles, and values from a design perspective."
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| Architecture/Sculpture for Itami City Hall: Kengo Kuma, Atsuhiko Misawa and Koji Tanada |
| 10 September - 6 November 2022 |
Itami City Museum of Art, History and Culture
(Hyogo) |
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The subject here is the new Itami City Hall, scheduled to open in late November. Sketches by architect Kengo Kuma, as well as early models and other materials, trace the progress of the building's design. A highlight is the unveiling of new works that will grace the interior of the hall by contemporary sculptors Atsuhiko Misawa and Koji Tanada, all carved from the wood of camphor trees that grew on the construction site.
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| Okayama Art Summit 2022: Do We Dream Under the Same Sky |
| 30 September - 27 November 2022 |
Various sites in Okayama city
(Okayama) |
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The triennial festival boasts an impressive international roster of contemporary artists. At the helm as this year's artistic director is Rirkrit Tiravanija of Thailand. Utilizing a number of venues in this venerable castle town and prefectural capital, the organizers aim to give visitors the opportunity to "experience the thought processes of the artists, enabling a unique interaction with art that transcends time and space -- all from the historic city of Okayama."
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| Takamatsu Contemporary Art Annual Vol. 11 / Fragile |
| 1 October - 6 November 2022 |
Takamatsu Art Museum
(Kagawa)
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The curators of this annual group exhibition have invited five cutting-edge artists who run the gamut of generations and media -- Nelo Akamatsu, Genki Isayama, Eriko Inazaki, Ken Kitano, and Takeshi Honda -- to address the titular theme with original works that exemplify the beauty and power to be found in fragility.
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| Shunsuke Imai: Skirt and Scene |
| 16 July - 6 November 2022 |
Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art
(Kagawa) |
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Per the museum website: "Shunsuke Imai (1978-), an artist known for his painting series featuring vividly colorful stripes, will hold his first solo exhibition at a museum. The painting series, displaying images suggestive of waves or flags rendered with a distinctive Pop color sense, is based on experiences of being powerfully struck by the pattern on an acquaintance's swaying skirt or the colors of fast fashion items stacked at a mass retailer. Imai has since explored expression while lightly commuting between figurative and abstract, flat and three-dimensional, and art and design."
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| Aguri Uchida: Existence |
| 16 September - 13 November 2022 |
Sakima Art Museum
(Okinawa) |
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A leading exponent of contemporary Nihonga, Uchida (b. 1949) has long devoted herself to confronting the fundamental questions of human existence through her paintings of the body. Having mastered the techniques and materials of classical Nihonga, she is fearlessly committed to upending the genre's traditions in the service of radically new forms of expression.
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| The Eyes of the Prayer: Photographs and Works of Shinya Fujiwara |
| 10 September - 6 November 2022 |
Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art
(Kyushu) |
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Fujiwara (b. 1944), who hails from Kitakyushu, is justly celebrated for his photography, but his protean output extends to essays, paintings, and calligraphy, all produced at the same level of excellence. Themed on "prayer," this retrospective surveys his prodigious oeuvre from early works to the most recent; surprisingly, it is Fujiwara's first major solo show in a museum. (It will open in Tokyo at the Setagaya Art Museum on 26 November.)
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