Japanese Beauty: Exhibition in Tsereteli Art Gallery

The Russian Academy of Arts and Shiraishi Gallery present in Moscow an exhibition project “Japanese Beauty”. On show in Tsereteli Art Gallery are works by twelve Japanese contemporary painters representing various generations and art trends. Among participating artists are Yayoi Kussama, Hiroshi Senju and Massaki Miyassako who have been included in the Western art establishment. In the professional and public consciousness along with many other painters, architects, sculptors, photographers they symbolize a “Japanese contribution” to global cultural and integration processes.

For instance, the name of the prominent artist, writer, poetess Yayoi Kussama is definitely associated with the Western surrealism and pop-art, with the formation of the art of American performance.

Masataka Ohyabu, Kei Shibusawa, Kazuyuki Futagawa, Yuji Sasaki, Teisuke Narita, Misaki Ando, Tadahiko Nakayama, Hanako Kunishi, Tinami Nakadzima are recognized masters known mainly on the Japanese art-scene. They focus exclusively on the purely national art subject-matter in the nuances of its evolution and appeal mostly to Japanese viewers.

The show explores the artists’ perfect skills in the Japanese national school of painting “Nihonga” and the influence of Western art in the interpretation of the national mentality. Among 80 works on display in Tsereteli Art Gallery there are both oils and traditional ink and wash paintings on silk and Japanese paper washi. Easel canvases and screens are along with abstract paintings as well as landscapes and portraits based on life sketches. A number of works represent an original pictorial depiction of problems of space and time resulting from a purely Japanese understanding of nature and the universe. All these works distinguished by an exquisite pictorial culture and special poetics are dotting “active” points of today’s Japanese fine arts.

Offering a characteristic profile of the artistic context of modern Japan the exhibition is aimed to demonstrate not only the diversity of author’s realizations of extremely topical artistic problems, but also make the viewers think of a Japanese phenomenon in contemporary art.

The Shiraishi Gallery, initiator of the above show is one of the most prospering in Japan. It was set up in Tokyo in 1967 by a connoisseur of art Mr. Yukio Shiraishi. The Gallery’s main exhibition venue is located in Ginza, a prestigious district in the downtown of Tokyo. Since its foundation the Gallery has established its brunches and representative offices throughout Japan. Recently they have opened its affiliate in Moscow, in prospects – in Dubai, Paris, New York, London and other cities across the world. The Gallery works both with renowned masters and talented young artists. At the outset of its activity it showed in Japan only works by European celebrated artists, but since the 1980s it started collaborating with Japanese artists. Since 1995 the Gallery has been holding exhibitions entitled “World Art Tour” involving many New York artists. In 2007 and 2008 the Gallery participated in the International Art Salon in Moscow and was highly appreciated by professional artists and wide public.




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