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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 December 2022 |
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| The Beginning of Kawaii |
| 7 October - 11 December 2022 |
Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art
(Kyoto) |
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In celebration of the 60th anniversary of Sanrio, best known as creator of the Hello Kitty franchise, this ambitious show traces the history of the company through extensive arrays of the goods and design drawings produced since its founding. Of particular interest is the distinctive way its many characters have evolved over the years in accordance with Sanrio's policy of prioritizing communication with fans -- no doubt one of the secrets of the brand's enduring popularity. The largest presentation of this kind to date, it has something to offer Sanrio devotees of all ages.
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| Samiro Yunoki: life/LIFE |
| 11 November - 25 December 2022 |
Museum "Eki" Kyoto
(Kyoto) |
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Dye artist Yunoki, who turned 100 this year, remains active today. During his seven-decade career he has turned out not only the bold, colorful stencil-dye works on cloth for which he is famous, but also prints, paintings, sculptures, and picture books. His works reflect the artist's determination to help make our lives brighter, something we've needed more than ever during the Covid years. This dynamic display of Yunoki's big, vividly dyed fabric creations will bring a smile to any visitor's face.
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| Sohei Nishino Exhibition |
| 26 November - 25 December 2022 |
Amagasaki Cultural Center
(Hyogo) |
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Nishino (b. 1982) wanders the world, shooting vast quantities of monochrome film in each city he visits. He then pieces the photos together by hand to form massive collages he calls diorama maps. A stickler for analog techniques in a digital age, he employs this time-consuming methodology to produce works that resemble lifeforms organically constructed from countless tiny fragments of memory. The creativity and expressive force of his work have earned accolades for Nishino at home and abroad.
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| Back to 1972 |
| 8 October - 11 December 2022 |
Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City
(Hyogo) |
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As artists in the 1970s attempted a fundamental reexamination of the question of just what art is, they tended to be less concerned with the materiality of art than with concepts. Both their subjects and production methods acutely reflected the times in which they lived. Subtitled "How Japanese Contemporary Art Looked 50 Years Ago," this sprawling retrospective is divided into five themes that introduce works created in the titular year from several angles, paying particular attention to those from the museum's own Kansai region. (For a detailed review, see the November 2022 Focus.)
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| Choi Jeong Hwa: Life, Live - All That Shining |
| 14 October - 11 December 2022 |
Kirishima Open-Air Museum
(Kagoshima) |
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The museum describes Choi as "one of Korea's leading contemporary artists, widely known in Japan for his intense colors and dynamic forms. Initially intended to mark the 20th anniversary of the facility's opening in the summer of 2020, the exhibit was postponed twice due to conditions induced by Covid-19. In the face of these circumstances, the artist's new creations and installations have been inspired by the ordinary everyday objects he found and collected in Korea and Kagoshima, which he has sublimated into quite out-of-the-ordinary works of art."
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| Masterpieces from the Tyler Graphics Archive Collection |
| 10 September - 18 December 2022 |
Center for Contemporary Graphic Art
(Fukushima)
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According to the curators, "Kenneth Tyler (b. 1931) played a leading role in the Print Renaissance that swept through the American art world starting in the late 1950s. This exhibition will feature especially renowned masterpieces gleaned from the Tyler Graphics Archive Collection at CCGA. On display together for the first time at CCGA will be James Rosenquist's Time Dust and Frank Stella's The Fountain, two enormous prints respectively exceeding 10m and 7m in width. We hope the exhibition will provide visitors an opportunity to understand and appreciate the significant contribution made by Tyler Graphics."
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| Tomoko Ushijima: Double Helix Is Not Entangled |
| 15 October - 4 December 2022 |
Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art
(Fukuoka) |
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Torrents of color and free yet forceful lines: from these ingredients the artist conjures up exuberant montages of animals, humans, geometric shapes, words and chemical symbols. Layers of color and support media are knit together by moving forms into a coherent whole: the world of Tomoko Ushijima (b. 1958). The aim of this exhibition is to review her oeuvre to date and offer hints of what is to come.
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| Paper: A Quest into the World "with" Paper |
| 1 October - 18 December 2022 |
Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto
(Kumamoto) |
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A showcase of eight contemporary artists or art units who create works not "on" but "with" paper, each in their own unique way. These diverse applications of such a familiar material to the expression of challenging artistic questions present us with alternative viewpoints to ponder vis-à-vis the day-to-day values and environments we take for granted.
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| Kaori Kato: Paper -- Fold/Open |
| 23 September - 11 December 2022 |
Kanda Nissho Memorial Museum of Art
(Hokkaido) |
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Currently based in Tokachi, Hokkaido, Kato (b. 1986) creates stunning three-dimensional works and installations from folded paper. This is her first solo show at the museum, which is also in the Tokachi area. At first glance, Kato's elaborate geometric constructions appear to be manufactured by some kind of machine. In fact, they are all handmade by a painstaking process that requires the utmost concentration to consistently shape fold upon fold of these large, thick sheets of paper.
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