Shirokane Art Complex Openings

The first shows of the New Year in the Shirokane art complex were a bit underwhelming. Kodama gallery held a group show "ignore your perspective 11" featuring the works of Sunao Horikawa, Masahiro Sekiguchi, Keisuke Sugimoto, Hidekazu Tanaka, Mayuko Wada and Shuhei Yagi. Some of the artists represented were moved up in the ranks from the second floor (young artist) space in the gallery's Kyoto space to the gallery's Tokyo space. 

Another group show, at Nanzuka Underground, combined the works of the Tokyo-based Hiroki Tsukuda and Tomoo Gokita and a young Belgian artist Rinus van de Velde. The exhibition was loosely based on the theme of graphic representation, showcasing the ability of the three artists to handle the subtleties of gray scale. 

Yamamoto Gendai, who is currently having one of their artists as the subject of a spectacularly produced solo show at the Mori museum, started the 2011 with a solo show of Tiger Tateishi's work. Online Radar presented three large canvases that have been held in a corporate collection from 1994 (the time of their production) until now. 

 

 

Recent Openings: Yamamoto Gendai

This was my first encounter with Erina Matsui's whimsical works; her solo show "One-touch Time Machine" is on view at Yamamoto Gendai through May 1. The young artist creates a carnivalesque universe where the lips on a giant face are transforming into slimy mushrooms right before our eyes, heads grow out of the ground, and weird creatures spew out cotton tissues. As I was looking at the mixed media works and paintings I could not help but think about the hermetic quality of the world Matsui depicts. There is nothing extraneous, every bizarre creature, every doll, every mushroom and celestial figure has its proper place. And, at the exhibition opening, amidst all that splendor the artist herself, clad in a big yellow crinolined dress was eagerly posing in front of her works as if shown how to inhabit her fantastical world properly.

Erina MATSUI, No! Never, 2010, H146xW112cm, Oil on canvas, ©Erina MATSUI

Against the prevailing background of artistic gravitas and lofty detachment shared by the majority of interesting art in various Tokyo galleries, Matsui's work initially seems too cute, even old-fashioned, but her sincerity and consistency prove otherwise. She is a storyteller and a good one too.