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Picks is a monthly sampling of Japan's art scene, offering short reviews of exhibitions at museums and galleries in recent weeks, with an emphasis on contemporary art by young artists. |
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Kyoko Nakamura: Beginner's English Lesson
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| 1 - 28 December 2008 |
STREET GALLERY
(Hyogo) |
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| The show consists of a row of 21 paintings of the same featureless girl's head with various English phrases above it, the sort one finds in English conversation textbooks: "What's this?", "His name is Mike." One automatically tries to establish a context for the phrases and the picture, but in vain. The artist's trick of sucking the viewer into this game is, in fact, quite clever. |
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Kohei Takahashi: Take - A little action and small accident |
| 10 - 21 December 2008 |
Gallery Raku
(Kyoto) |
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| The images on the flat-screen monitor initially appear to be still photos, but if you look long enough, you notice slight movements by the subject or the shaking of the camera itself. By subtly manipulating existing images, the artist seems intent on "editing" the perceptions of the viewer. |
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| Satoko Matsui: Closing |
| 1 - 20 December 2008 |
Gallery Den 58
(Osaka) |
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| Matsui paints with pale colors and a thin line, combining multiple images in complex ways that befuddle the eye. Added stimulus comes from a subtle aroma wafting through the air. The overall effect is refreshingly bizarre for a gallery on a weekday afternoon. |
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Second Nature, Directed by Tokujin Yoshioka |
| 17 October 2008 - 18 January 2009 |
21_21 DESIGN SIGHT
(Tokyo) |
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| Part of 21_21's ongoing series of exhibitions under guest directorships, this one by designer Yoshioka focuses on "mysterious powers of nature which transcend the limits of human imagination." The works of the eight participating "creators" are set against a white, translucent space that seems almost embarrassing in its naivety. |
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Flooding Images: Art and Print Media after Anti-Art, 1960s-70s
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| 5 November 2008 - 25 January 2009 |
Urawa Art Museum
(Saitama) |
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| This show features over 500 print works by eight artists active in the sixties and seventies: Tadanori Yokoo, Yoshiharu Tsuge, Genpei Akasegawa, Tsunehisa Kimura, Hiroshi Nakamura, Tiger Tateishi, Akira Uno, and Kiyoshi Awazu. Redolent of the era, their posters, book and magazine covers, collage photos and cartoons are at once colorful and full of sociopolitical commentary. |
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Nobuko Fujii: Anthill Station |
| 25 November - 4 December 2008 |
Jack and the Beanstalk
(Kanagawa)
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| Fujii made a splash at last year's Tokyo University of the Arts graduate exhibition with her giant, wraithlike feather robe installation. This show centers around the same work and several others that use animal skins, insects and other such materials. |
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7th Hiroshima Art Prize: Cai Guo-Qiang |
| 25 October 2008 - 12 January 2009 |
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art
(Hiroshima) |
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Cai, who directed the special effects at the Beijing Olympics, works on a similar scale in "Unmanned Nature," a massive installation featuring a 45-meter gunpowder drawing on the wall and a pool containing 60 tons of water on the floor of the exhibition space. The city-sponsored prize goes to artists who have "contributed to the peace of humanity within the field of contemporary art."
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Kotohiragu Screen Exhibition |
| 19 April - 31 December 2008 |
Kotohiragu Shrine
(Kagawa) |
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| The byobu screen paintings at Shikoku's famous Kotohiragu Shrine evoke big names like Okyo Maruyama and Jakuchu Ito. But in a recent viewing, what caught the eye was a more contemporary work by Tanryo Murata (1872-1940). Painted on fusuma sliding panels, his landscape of horseback hunters riding across the lower slopes of Mt. Fuji slides back to reveal an alcove with a huge Fuji towering in the background. |
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Shimabuku: New Works |
| 12 December 2008 - 15 March 2009 |
watari-um museum
(Tokyo) |
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Videographer Shimabukuro's inimitable world is on ample display here: "Fish and Chips," featuring a fish attacking a potato floating in the sea; "Doing Something We Didn't Plan to Do," about artists trying to build a golf practice range, and "Onion Orion," which requires translation into English to make sense.
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