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This September, the art scene in Tokyo welcomed the return of an artist absent from Japan for decades with his first solo exhibition in the country in over 50 years, the relaunch of a gallery in their sleek, newly renovated digs in Kita-Otsuka, the opening of a show which includes the often-neglected female gaze, and a solo show presenting the work of an exciting, emerging Chinese artist.
Shinkichi Tajiri
Sep 8 – Oct 21
The Tokyo outpost of Blum & Poe is showcasing a thorough collection of sculptures and prints by the late Japanese-American artist Shinkichi Tajiri.
On view is a carefully curated exhibition of works that represents a fascinating survey of artist’s career that spanned several decades in several countries, and included time spent in an Arizona internment camp in the 1940s before a brief career in the American armed forces followed by a move to Europe, where he flourished as an artist in Paris and the Netherlands.
The gallery houses several of Tajiri’s warrior sculptures—larger versions of which can be found guarding the Maas River in Venlo, in the southeastern Netherlands. Inspired by the storied samurai warriors of his ancestral home, Tajiri also infused his memories of World War II and a touch of manga into the works to create their striking appearance.
Representations from the artist’s series of knot sculptures, which can also be found dotting the Netherlands’s vast public art scenery as well as in Los Angeles, are also on view. Included are bold metal knots, which showcase the artist’s mastery of the form, and some of Tajiri’s curious paper sculpture knots, which appear to be constructed from a single sheet.
The exhibition also features a selection of digital prints on fabric, marking a departure from the artist’s favored medium of sculpture, which were created on an Apple computer from the early 1990s.
Tajiri’s estate is now managed by his daughters, who attended the opening of his first solo exhibition in Tokyo in over 50 years.
A Language All Your Own
Sep 17 – Oct 15
Following a brief stay in a temporary space near Tokyo’s Otsuka Station, Misako & Rosen have found a home on the concrete ground floor of renowned architect Akihisa Hirata’s Tree-ness House.
To mark the occasion, and as a conclusion to the gallery’s ten-year anniversary celebrations, directors Misako and Jeffrey Rosen chose to christen the new space with a sake cask opening and solo show by the first artist exhibited by the gallery when they launched in December 2006, Shimon Minamikawa.
Minamikawa’s current presentation for the gallery, “A Language All Your Own,” is meant to demonstrate the artist’s growth over the past decade. Since the beginning of their relationship, Minamikawa has gone on to exhibit extensively, across Japan and internationally, with work appearing at Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum and Museum Brandhorst in Munich, among others. The artist’s work has been acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, and Korea’s National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. This exhibition features new works, including paintings, ceramics and plates, which carry the theme of the first show mounted a decade ago.
“A Language All Your Own” is supplemented with an essay by Sen Uesaki titled “Time Windows, Part I: The Paintings of Shimon Minamikawa,” with a translation by Andrew Maerkle. It can be found here.
MEN
Sep 12 – Nov 11
Gallery Koyanagi’s current group exhibition brings together several high-profile names for a small but impressive showcase of art that addresses the theme of masculinity.
In collaboration with Tokyo-based Naruyama Gallery and Kosaku Kanechika gallery, the photography-heavy “MEN” show features work by Diane Arbus, Cecil Beaton, Marlene Dumas, Simon Fujiwara, Christopher Makos, Sakiko Nomura, Ataru Sato, Kishin Shinoyama, Jeanloup Sieff and Andy Warhol.
The lot contains a few familiar works, including Jeanloup Sieff’s portrait of a nude Yves Saint Laurent (Yves Saint Laurent, 1971), Christopher Makos’s image of Andy Warhol in drag (Lady Warhol, 1981) and Warhol’s gold leaf silhouette (Unknown Male, c. 1957). The exhibition shows especial intellectual promise with Kishin Shinoyama’s Yukio Mishima and the Tatenokai (Shield Society) (c. 1965), the female gaze of Marlene Dumas in Young Boy (Wet Suit) (1996) and Sakiko Nomura’s photographs, as well as Simon Fujiwara’s mixed-media work, Spanish Still Lives: Mariposita (2011). Cecil Beaton’s vintage prints are also a welcome addition.
Fresh Dewdrop
Sep 16 – Oct 28
Ota Fine Arts Tokyo welcomes the return of Chinese artist Chen Wei for his second exhibition at the gallery, titled “Fresh Dewdrop.” Chen presents an evolving approach to photography, continually changing the way his work is displayed. His current show translates this progression into a multisensory experience.
As he reflects on the changes in contemporary Chinese society through his carefully staged photographs, Chen includes mixed-media and LED sculptures, such as Trouble #17021 and Trouble #17072 (both 2017), installed in a darkened gallery to convey his observations of mainland China.
As part of the emerging Beijing-based artist’s increased popularity on the international art scene, Wei’s recent solo shows include “The Club,” mounted earlier this year at the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Melbourne, as well as 2015’s “In the Waves” at Chi K11 Art Museum in Shanghai.
Peter Augustus Owen is the Tokyo-based associate publisher of ArtAsiaPacific.
Notes from Nippon is a monthly blog, featuring a roundup of news and exhibition openings from Japan.
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