Exhibitions
Ueno Artist Project 2019: “Artists Look at Children”
November 16 (Sat), 2019 – January 5 (Sun), 2020
The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum—“the Home of the Public Entry Exhibition”—has played a significant role for nearly a century by giving artists of all kinds a place to exhibit and develop their art. In 2012, on the occasion of its Grand Reopening, the museum launched a public entry exhibition “activation program” with the aim of fulfilling its active role: “To impart vitality to people’s art activities and deepen their appreciation of art.” As of 2017, it has launched the annual “Ueno Artist Project” exhibition to showcase select contemporary artists now active in art groups, with the aim of sharing the wonder and excitement of their work.
In 2019, the third exhibition of the Ueno Artist Project will take the theme “Children,” a attractive motif that has long fascinated artists. Featured will be group-affiliated artists who draw from their personal thoughts and recollections to produce works concerned with childhood, an experience intimately known to everyone. The exhibition will explore a range of images held of children in three sections.
Artists
OKUBO Ayako (Ichiyokai)
KIHARA Masanori (Nikikai)
SHIDA Tsubasa (Dokuritsubijutsukyokai)
SHINJO Kana (Nihonbijutsuin)
TOYOSAWA Megumi (Shinseisakukyokai)
YAMAMOTO Yasuhisa (Shutaibijutsukyokai)
Gallery Talk by the Exhibition Curator (English interpretation provided)
December 8 (Sun), 2019 14:00 – 15:00
Venue: In the exhibition galleries (Gallery A, C)
※Prior reservations are not necessary, but an exhibition ticket for that day is required.
- Chapter 1 The Object of Love
The adorable smiling children portrayed in the paintings evoke an ideal world of freedom, hope, and happiness. For adults, they also arouse emotions of tenderness and nostalgia. Then, the children’s glowing innocence, frailty, and cheerfulness create an aura of sublimity akin to religious paintings. Through the works, viewers can sense the different ways people see children. - Chapter 2 Growth and Conflict
What am I? Why do I exist? What is good and what is bad? . . . Children, as they awaken to themselves, search for a reason for their existence in the gap between conforming to society and establishing their own identity. The paintings portray the conflicts of puberty that children unavoidably experience in the process of becoming adults. For those of us already in adulthood, the paintings evoke our own deeply personal dialogue with the self we have left behind. - Chapter 3 The Connectivity of Life
Children mature into adults, foster new life, and become guardians of the next generation, thus forming a great cycle of life transcending the ages. The artists evoke the image of human beings as one species, carrying on the chain of life in a vast world. The artworks, in their depiction of the grand symphony of life, transport us to a realm far transcending our daily routine.
Major works
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SHINJO Kana, A Girl and the Cosmos, 2016, Collection of Artist Photo：OTANI Ichiro
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OKUBO Ayako, Bringing Up Little Life, 2014, Collection of Artist
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SHIDA Tsubasa, Much, 2018, Collection of Artist Photo：OTANI Ichiro
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TOYOSAWA Megumi, The Birthday, 2015, Collection of Artist Photo：OTANI Ichiro
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YAMAMOTO Yasuhisa, Gentle Feeling, 2015, Collection of Artist
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KIHARA Masanori, Form of the Human, Form of the Field - Return to the Earth -, 2017, Collection of Artist