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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.
15 January 2015
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Lyota Yagi Solo Exhibition: Science / Fiction
21 December 2014 - 17 January 2015
Kanagawa Kenmin Hall Gallery
(Kanagawa)
Known for nimbly moving between the worlds of art and music, Yagi brings his oeuvre to this five-room gallery, which claims to be the largest art space in Kanagawa Prefecture. His works consist of small objects, but arranged in this roomy environment they tell a story that should win the artist a broader audience. The show has an organic presence that offers fresh insights and bodes well for Yagi's future.

AGC Studio Exhibition No. 12: "New Architectural Pleasures 2014"
6 January - 21 February 2015
AGC Studio 1F Entrance Gallery
(Tokyo)
In this third installment of a group show featuring young architects, the Asahi Glass Company's gallery showcases models that contemplate the relationship of architecture to society. The standout item is exhibition designer Motosuke Mandai's display table, which supports a thin transparent top upon countless slender columns.
Open Space 2014

21 June 2014 - 8 March 2015

NTT Intercommunication Center
(Tokyo)
"Otocyon Megalotis," named after the African bat-eared fox, is an installation by sound artists Akio Suzuki and evala. A repeater from last year's Open Space show, the anechoic chamber bathes the visitor's body in sound, all the while in utter darkness. One is reminded anew that sound is quite different from sight, consisting as it does of vibrations in the air that are capable of touching us, and occasionally striking hard, from afar.
Japan Architects 1945 - 2010

1 November 2014 - 15 March 2015

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
(Ishikawa)
This sprawling display of modern and contemporary architectural plans and models is the 21st Century Museum's first "museum-style" exhibition since its opening. Guest curator Frédéric Migayrou of the Pompidou Centre has divided Japan's postwar architectural history into six color-coded sections: black for the destruction and reconstruction in the aftermath of surrender; dark and light gray for aspects of the modernist movement; color and non-color for the era of Expo 70, metabolism, and anti-modernist impulses; and finally, white for the present day.
Disaster, Memory, and Art: 20 Years after the Great Kobe Earthquake

16 December 2014 - 8 March 2015
BB Plaza Museum of Art
(Hyogo)
The 20th anniversary of the massive earthquake that struck Kobe and environs in 1995 falls on January 17 this year. In commemoration, several art museums in the region are curating exhibitions on the theme of natural disaster (including the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011). The 13 artists participating in this one explore what role art can play in recovery from such catastrophes.
"The Principles of Art" by Genpei Akasegawa: From 1960s to Present

28 October - 23 December 2014
Chiba City Museum of Art
(Chiba)
This ambitious retrospective opened just two days after Akasegawa's death. Boasting over 500 works and documents, it comprehensively chronicles the artist's prolific half-century career, from his early oil paintings, through his Neo-Dada and Hi-Red Center years (highlighted by avant-garde exploits like the "Model 1000-yen Note" incident that got him arrested for counterfeiting), to his coining of the Hyper-Art and Thomasson concepts of found art, his Roadside Observation activities, the Leica Alliance, and his promotion of rojin-ryoku ("geezer power").
Osamu Kokufu: Parabolic Farm

19 October - 16 November 2014
Kitakagaya Minnanouen Farm no. 2
(Osaka)
This exhibition was held in memory of Osamu Kokufu, an artist who died in a freak accident at the site of his solo show in April 2014. Displays ranged from sketches and drawings to photographic records of recent projects and the process of bringing them to completion. The show gave eloquent voice to the loss felt by his friends and colleagues.
Japanese Artists in Paris Part 1: 1910s - 1930s

25 October - 7 December 2014
Meguro Museum of Art
(Tokyo)
One of the Meguro Museum's stated missions is to collect works by Japanese artists who studied overseas. This was the first installment of an exhibition of works from the museum collection by 75 "Japanese Artists in Paris." Along with the well-known example of Tsuguharu Foujita, it introduced his predecessors Sotaro Yasui and Ryuzaburo Umehara, as well as others like Kaoru Yamaguchi and Masanari Murai who spent time in Paris in the decades before World War II.
Wataru Yamamoto: Desired Forms - The Deep Shadows of Vessels
31 October - 7 December 2014
Nadiff a/p/a/r/t
(Tokyo)
These monochrome photographs bring to mind Karl Blossfeldt's shots of plants -- but the shapes of these objects are weirdly unnatural, and all are indubitably phallic. It turns out that the figures Yamamoto has photographed are plaster casts taken of the interiors of male sex toys.
Ryoko Kimura: Be Your Animal
22 October - 16 November 2014

Traumaris
(Tokyo)
Kimura is a Nihonga artist who paints in the bijinga genre, but her subjects are "beautiful men" instead of the traditional "beautiful women." At the Kogane Bazaar she displayed portraits of attractive young male artists, but this new series features hybrid creatures who are half-man, half-beast: tiger, rabbit, squirrel, dragon, phoenix and so on. One of the delights of her work is an attention to detail that reminds one of such classic masters as Jakuchu Ito and Shohaku Soga.
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