A comprehensive presentation of contemporary Japanese post-war art.
The exhibition A personal look at contemporary Japanese art: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) is the definitive guide to contemporary Japanese art, presenting works by 115 individual artists and groups of artists whose work is astutely critical and indispensable to the history of contemporary Japanese art.
The exhibition examines the state of contemporary Japan from the specific perspective of psychiatrist and art collector Takahashi Ryutaro, born in 1946. He began collecting contemporary Japanese art in the mid-1990s and has acquired more than 3,500 works to date, making his collection one of the largest of its kind in the world in terms of both quality and quantity.
The first section, “Prenatal memory” which features many of Kusama Yayoi’s works from the 1950s and 1960s, examines the cultural situation in Japan during the roughly 50 years between the end of the war and the mid-1990s, when Takahashi began collecting artworks in earnest. It is followed by “An end and a new beginning“, which really took off in the mid-1990s. It revolved around works that can be described as “portraits of post-war Japan” and are representative of the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection as a whole. It was a time when contemporary art began to circulate on an increasingly global scale and numerous artists such as Murakami Takashi emerged who offered sharp criticism of Japanese culture and society.”New types of people”, the mature phase of the collection, focuses particularly on works depicting human figures – one of the central themes of the collection. The exhibits in this section range from renowned works such as those of NARA Yoshitomo to the latest creations of young artists.
Given Takahashi’s roots in the Tohoku region, the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011 had a particularly large impact and changed his sensibilities. Introduced in “Collapse and rebirth” are works revolving around life and rebirth that satirize social behavior since the disaster; works depicting the first actions of artists after the earthquake; and other creative efforts undertaken in response to these events. Since “reality” is no longer perceived in highly subjective statements, a special focus is placed on works of art that re-examine the position of the “self” as a subject. The following section “Redefining the ‘Self’” presents works that reflect this new sensibility, in elements that emphasize the process of creation of things, their state of incompleteness or unfinishedness or whose result seems to be entrusted to the effects of external environments and phenomena. The last section of the exhibition is “Back on the road”which shows the current state of the collection as it continues to grow, while also incorporating the latest trends from young artists. Takahashi is particularly fascinated by the creative activities of artists who have a “street” view of the world, which for Takahashi brings back memories of avant-garde art and an experience that brings him back to the streets, so to speak.
The founding of the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection coincides with the so-called “lost 30 years” following the bursting of Japan’s economic bubble. This exhibition of over 200 selected works traces the collection’s journey from its beginnings through the period after the Great East Japan Earthquake to the present day from the collector’s “personal perspective”. Featuring many important works of Japanese contemporary art since the 1990s, including legendary figures as well as promising young artists, this is a comprehensive overview of his vast collection and an opportunity to bring a personal perspective to art historical movements, as well as a rare chance to see some of the most important works of Japanese contemporary art.
Click here to view the list of artists.
Curated by YABUMAE Tomoko, curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Offered by the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
