[5th Edition] MITSUKOSHI ✕ Tokyo University of the Arts Summer Art Festival 2018

MITSUKOSHI ✕ Tokyo University of the Arts Summer Art Festival 2018

“MITSUKOSHI ✕ Tokyo University of the Arts Summer Art Festival” is a project that presents works by roughly 100 graduate students and alumni under 40 from Tokyo University of the Arts on the 6th-floor art gallery of Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Building. 2018 marks its fifth edition.

Having artists from a wide range of genres gather on a single floor is both a rewarding viewing experience and easy on the visitor. As listed below, a remarkably broad group of artists is participating.

● Japanese-style Painting
Haruka Ito, Kota Iwatani, Hanako Sawasaki, Rinna Shiino, Sanami Shimada, Kei Sugiyama, Yui Furuyama, Yukie Mori, Yuki Yamada, Yuka Den
● Oil Painting
Rena Uchida, Sachiko Osugi, Ryu Kawada, Reira Takemura, Mariko Tachihara, Kenichi Nakamura, Manami Numata, Sei Nozawa, Gin Hasegawa, Sara Haruta, Sabrina Hedwig Horak, Xu Yun, Yuhei Makiyama, Yo Mogi, Jun Yoshida, Li Feifei, Hikaru Watanabe
● Sculpture
Susumu Ako, Kishi Omori, Hiroyuki Kawashima, Shoichi Kitayama, Terumi Kozuka, Mao Saruwatari, Gento Suzuki, Konomi Mori, Ayumi Morooka
● Metal Carving
Kumiko Endo, Maya Koga, Nao Mizutani
● Metal Forging
Marie Sakagami, Eiko Miki, Mizuto Miyazaki, Ayako Kuno, Sakiko Sugimura
● Lacquerware
Iori Oda, Ami Tanakadate, Shinpei Matsuzaki
● Ceramics
Takato Sasaki, Masashi Shigeta, Taro Takaoka
● Textile Dyeing and Weaving
Kishi Ebizuka, Miho Katsuragawa, Miho Sekimizu
● Glass
Yu Uchida, Kaho Enomoto, Yasuo Okuda
● Craft Foundations
Masaki Ikoshi, Taku Higuchi
● Woodcraft
Takayuki Koishi, Shintaro Murao
● Design
Yusuke Aonuma, ICHASU, Yoshiaki Oshiro, Haruka Kanemaru, Eri Karasawa, Kyo Koganesawa, Nana Shimomura, Yuji Takahashi, Kei Tanaka, Akiko Nakaya, Nitoushin, Hayato Fujimura, Takashi Hokoi, Marina Hosoda, mollydomon, Isana Yamada, Dari Yamada, Manami Washino
● Architecture
Ryohei Akita, fujirooll, Megumi Machida,
● Intermedia Art
Yoshiki Omote, Chie Orihara, Noriaki Kamiya, Ryota Kikuchi, Arisa Chinen
● Art Education
Noriko Nomura, Seiji Mukai
● Cultural Properties
Naoshi Ono, Satoko Ogura, Hisanori Kojima, Atsuo Suzumura, Yuko Takeda, Chisato Nakano, Daisuke Mukai, Aki Yamada

Works That Made an Impression

Here I’d like to introduce a few of the works that stood out to me during this visit. First, I found Ryu Kawada’s display. He’s an artist I’ve been following for a long time, and this was a work I could really feel — a sense of “yes, this is good.”

Ryu Kawada, "Parade 2" — I painted this based on an image that could only be seen as a parade or some kind of festival. — Ryu Kawada, “Parade 2” — I painted this based on an image that could only be seen as a parade or some kind of festival.

I’ve been a fan of Sakiko Sugimura’s work ever since I saw her show at JINEN Gallery. Despite her delicate, refined style, she has a knack for presenting works that catch you off guard — that’s what I love about her. Prices are relatively accessible, and I’m keeping an eye out for the right moment to acquire one.

Sakiko Sugimura — Something like a flower, resembling fireworks blooming in the night sky. I create as if I were having a co… — Sakiko Sugimura — Something like a flower, resembling fireworks blooming in the night sky. I create as if I were having a conversation with the material. The way metal melts is beautiful, and every material I encounter in the process is deeply compelling. This time, I “cast-entangled” pewter around brass wire whose tip had been melted — meaning I set one metal into a mold and poured another to make them intertwine.

Yu Uchida is a pop artist working with glass. Her almost-melting ice pops were wonderful.

Yu Uchida — Working primarily in glass, she uses casting techniques to depict ice pops as motifs. In her "cool it" series, w… — Yu Uchida — Working primarily in glass, she uses casting techniques to depict ice pops as motifs. In her “cool it” series, which features a stylized polar bear character, her concept fuses the vanishing icon of environmental protection with the “cute” (kawaii) of Japanese pop culture — a mass-consumption society. Her work attempts to expose the contradictions and ironies lurking beneath modern society.

Yusuke Aonuma’s dandelion piece is a work that continuously changes (deteriorates) throughout the duration of its exhibition. Enjoying this state of flux is presumably the intended way to view it. Breath, air — presences of that sort are essential.

Yusuke Aonuma — Using dandelion seeds, I build an architecture that trembles delicately when breathed upon. It serves only a… — Yusuke Aonuma — Using dandelion seeds, I build an architecture that trembles delicately when breathed upon. It serves only as, at most, a rain shelter for ants, but what stands there is, in truth, breath itself. Breath is embodied in architecture and structure. Through this, the physical nature of breath, and the essential meaning of architecture as “something that is built,” will be redefined.

ICHASU may be the most straightforward embodiment of this year’s theme, “Festival.” The red dot stickers signaled the piece’s popularity.

ICHASU — Festivals are rituals for offering thanks and prayers, and for honoring gods, spirits, demons, and beasts. Things n… — ICHASU — Festivals are rituals for offering thanks and prayers, and for honoring gods, spirits, demons, and beasts. Things normally invisible reveal themselves before us once a year, delighting us at the festival. I depicted such mystical beings — bewitching, yet also endearing and lovable — hoping that this exhibition would become a “hare no hi” (day of festivity).

One piece that made me stop and think for a moment: a work joining two forks together. No — it stood there so confidently, as though it had always been meant to be that way. Yes: two making one.

Hayato Fujimura — Everything in the world has two sides. Though the two natures are opposed, neither can exist on its own. L… — Hayato Fujimura — Everything in the world has two sides. Though the two natures are opposed, neither can exist on its own. Like reversed reflections in a mirror, the two are one.

Of all the works I’ve seen by Isana Yamada, this one felt like it had the highest transparency.

Isana Yamada — With tsukumogami (spirits inhabiting objects) as its theme, this work is built around the concept of a sunken… — Isana Yamada — With tsukumogami (spirits inhabiting objects) as its theme, this work is built around the concept of a sunken ship taking the form of a whale and returning to its home port.

Yoshiki Omote’s work was outstanding. He puts oil paint and resin inside a PET bottle, hardens it, then drops it to destroy it. The pieces are then reconstructed into a single work — but by that point the whole process itself has already become a “festival.” The sharp cross-sections make the heart race.

Yoshiki Omote — This work is made by layering a mixture of resin and oil paint into a mold cast from ready-mades such as pol… — Yoshiki Omote — This work is made by layering a mixture of resin and oil paint into a mold cast from ready-mades such as polyethylene tanks, then dropping the resulting mass onto the ground to destroy it and reconstructing the fragments. The title “Tectonics” is a geological term referring to the movement of the lithosphere. I made this work in an attempt to translate the immense motion beneath the ground, and its vast timescales, into a bodily scale.

Kei Tanaka’s work felt less like sculpture and more like something with painterly awareness. My impression was of a three-dimensional painting.

Kei Tanaka — Sending this restless feeling far away, to someone.

The masculine energy I felt when looking at the piece turned out to be by a female artist, Ayako Kuno. The materiality and sense of balance really work.

Ayako Kuno — In contemporary society, where information and phenomena intertwine in complex, overflowing ways, I take the ep… — Ayako Kuno — In contemporary society, where information and phenomena intertwine in complex, overflowing ways, I take the ephemerality, fragility, and chaotic aspect of human-made things, and the strength, hope, and life-force that emerge from within them, and translate them into metals — silver, brass, bronze — using primarily lost-wax precision casting, which allows for meticulous expression in metal.

Is this even art…? I have to raise the white flag to Chie Orihara’s over-the-top work. Her simultaneously exhibited “onigiri work” also carries a slightly dangerous streak, so I have high hopes for her future work (this is a compliment).

Chie Orihara — I write the names of people who come to mind onto individual grains of rice, shape them into rice balls, and … — Chie Orihara — I write the names of people who come to mind onto individual grains of rice, shape them into rice balls, and eat them. *This caption refers to a different work than the one pictured.

Bargain! The 10,000-yen Flat-Rate Corner

Inside the venue, a “10,000 yen flat-rate corner” had been set up, and sales there were brisk (10,800 yen tax included). Some artists had priced works there at levels almost unthinkable given their usual rates — a corner packed with great deals.

A Particularly Memorable Work

The work that stayed with me most from this project was, without question, Kishi Omori’s piece. Please see the linked article below.

This really is a fine project! I very much hope it continues.

Details

MITSUKOSHI ✕ Tokyo University of the Arts Summer Art Festival 2018
Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Building, 6F Art Gallery
August 15 (Wed) – 20 (Mon), 2018 — closes at 5:00 p.m. on the final day
Participating Artists

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