artscape Japan


	HOME > PICKS

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.

1 February 2016

| 1 | 2 |

Tadanori Yokoo: Genka Genso Genga-tan

12 December 2015 - 27 March 2016

Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art
(Hyogo)

Yokoo drew 371 monochrome illustrations for Genka (Fantasy Flowers), a historical novel by Harumi (Jakucho) Setouchi that was serialized in a newspaper in 1974 and 1975. The tale depicts the decline of the Muromachi Shogunate through the eyes of a female protagonist, but Yokoo's drawings are in a free, experimental, contemporary style that seems to have little if anything to do with Setouchi's text. This is the first time the entire series has been exhibited in one place.

Shiriagari Zooms in on Daumier

16 January - 6 March 2016

Itami City Museum of Art
(Hyogo)

Manga artist Shiriagari Kotobuki (b.1958) displays new works inspired by Honore Daumier (1808-79), the legendary caricaturist who was active in 19th-century Paris. This homage to the French satirical tradition seems especially significant in the wake of last year's terrorist attack on the weekly Charlie Hebdo, as well as an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with Daumier. In that regard, coupling his works with those of a popular contemporary cartoonist is a stroke of curatorial genius.

Traces of Kiyoshi Hamada: Layered Paintings, Scraped Paintings

21 November 2015 - 7 February 2016

Nerima Art Museum
(Tokyo)

A Nerima favorite son deserving of wider recognition (he taught for many years in the ward's public school system), Hamada (b.1937) earned some notice for his woodcut art in the 1970s. Since then, however, he has been producing paintings -- notably surfaces layered with pigment or scraped paper -- whose tough physicality bursts the confines of conventional notions of "abstract" art. This retrospective introduces 47 works spanning his career.

Borderless Communication after 1945

28 November 2015 - 7 February 2016

Ashiya City Museum of Art and History
(Hyogo)

Focusing on "Objet Pottery," an avant-garde ceramic art movement that arose in Kyoto after World War II, the show examines the activities of artists associated with the groups Shiko-kai and Sodei-sha, among them Kazuo Yagi, Shindo Tsuji, Sango Uno, Hikaru Yamada, Osamu Suzuki, and Yasuo Hayashi. The parallel display of paintings and sculptures by some of their contemporaries reinforces one's impression of the feverish artistic passions of that era.

Conditions of Walking

1 - 6 December 2015

Gallery Suzuki
(Kyoto)

This December exhibition was the final one at Gallery Suzuki, which has been at the forefront of the contemporary art scene in the Kansai region since 1983. It will be sorely missed. Collaborating on the valedictory presentation were Akihiko Inoue, Hajime Imamura, Kazushi Kusakabe, and Isa Miyake. The centerpiece was a large structure designed by Imamura, surrounded by the artists' works as well as traces of their "walks" in the course of preparing the show. Insofar as "walking" represents a journey that marks the passage of time, the concept resonated well with the creative predilections of these four artists.

Opening Exhibition: Time in Town

29 November 2015 - 11 January 2016

A-Lab
(Hyogo)

An art center occupying a renovated former public hall in the city of Amagasaki, A-Lab opened this past fall with an inaugural group show featuring three young contemporary artists, Yukihiro Yamagami, Mayo Koide, and Kensaku Tanaka. For the next year the trio will research the Amagasaki area and use the data and materials they gather in new works to be exhibited in upcoming solo shows on the theme of "Time in Town." The ongoing project will also include artist talks, workshops and other events.

Kyoko Nakamura: Solitary Fetish (Dear Henry)

24 - 29 November 2015

Art Space Niji
(Kyoto)

An artist whose work derives from a minute scrutiny of objects that capture her interest, Nakamura here exhibits some 80 articles of miniature clothing that replicate items worn by the young girls who appear in the work of the American outsider artist Henry Darger (1892-1973). In making these clothes, Nakamura seems to be attempting to comprehend Darger's solitude from the inside.

Fujita Tsuguharu: Complete Works from the Museum Collection

19 September - 13 December 2015

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
(Tokyo)

The chameleon-like Fujita (1886-1968) painted gloomy landscapes of Paris at the end of World War I, moved on to the portraits of milky-skinned nudes that made him famous, sketched people in Latin America, then returned home to paint epic battle scenes like the five-meter-long Attack on Nanchong Airfield during World War II. His war paintings are ambiguous enough to allow varied interpretations, and that in itself is one aspect of his genius.

Tsuyoshi Ozawa: The Return of Painter F

23 October - 27 December 2015

Shiseido Gallery
(Tokyo)

Ozawa displays paintings and videos he produced in collaboration with Indonesian street painters; they tell the story of "Painter F," a fictitious Japanese artist dispatched by the military to occupied Indonesia during World War II. The character appears to be based on the real-life painter Tsuguharu Fujita, but Ozawa's narrative depicts choices made by an artist less adroit than Fujita at swimming with the tides of the times.

Re:play 1972/ 2015: Restaging "Expression in Film '72"

6 October - 13 December 2015

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
(Tokyo)

An attempt to revisit the titular exhibition, which was produced by 16 film and video artists at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art in 1972, this innovative show recreates the original venue on a 90 percent scale, displaying materials from the 1972 event as well as exhibits describing the restaging process in the surrounding corridors. Unlike paintings and sculptures, film and video artworks do not last as immutable objects, a challenge that this show seeks to address.

| 1 | 2 |