REAL JAPANESQUE: The Unique World of Japanese Contemporary Art

from 10/07/2012 to 30/09/2012

The National Museum of Art, Osaka

In order to transcend the diverse set of values that emerged with the impasse in Western art at the end of the 20th century, the work of artists who were born in the 1960s, and the inundation of art-related information, the overriding concern for Japanese artists born after 1970 is how to create something completely new. The nine artists in the Real Japanesque exhibition have chosen to deal with this difficult situation by distancing themselves from recent and often seen approaches such as imitating Western art, returning to Japanese art, and relying on displays that are specifically contrived to attract attention.
The work of the artists is distinguished by the use of a flexible method, selected from a variety of art works of the past and things that are produced in daily life, and the exploration of an enigmatic Japanesque sensibility in visual expression. By listening closely to what their works are saying, we are sure to realize things that we might normally overlook, and to be affected by these creative expressions.
In broad terms, these are not only the products of an honest and intellectual response to the specific circumstances that the artists are confronted with, but are also linked to their childhood and school-age experiences as Japanese born in the 70s and 80s. In that sense, it is possible to view them as a way of addressing the theme of creating something significant as a Japanese work of art, an ongoing concern since the Meiji Period of the late 19th century. In addition to locating these works in an appropriate manner based on trends in contemporary Japanese art, in this exhibition, we set out to consider the significance of art today.

Exhibiting Artists: Taro Izumi, Maoya Kishi, Shimon Minamikawa, Satoshi Ohno, Katsuhisa Sato, Teppei Soutome, Nobuaki Takekawa, Kazuyuki Takezaki, Mayuko Wada

Shimon Minamikawa painting loaned from The Pigozzi Collection.

Curator: Hiroyuki Nakanishi
The National Museum of Art, Osaka
4-2-55, Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0005, Japan

Link to the exhibition website