The Winter Garden

The Japan Foundation’s

Traveling Exhibition

“Winter Garden”

The Exploration of the Micropop Imagination in Contemporary Japanese Art

By Ryoko Aoki, Tam Ochiai, Lyota Yagi, Koki Tanaka, Hiroshi Sugito, Taro Izumi,
Mahomi Kunikata, Aya Takano, Makiko Kudo, Chim ↑ Pom, Masanori Handa, Hiroe Saeki, Masaya Chiba, Keisuke Yamamoto

Curated by Midori Matsui

worm farm, 2009
pencil, watercolor on paper, 37.0×45.0 cm
Ryoko Aoki

sky-flying fish,2006
oil on canvas, 130.5×162.0cm
Makiko Kudo

Exhibition period

January 11 (Mon) – February 10 (Wed) 2016
Weekdays: 8.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m.
Saturday 9.00 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Close on Sunday and Public Holidays

Opening ceremony
January 11 (Monday) at 5.00 p.m.

Venue
Champasri Art Gallery,
Research Institute of Northeastern Art and Culture,
Mahasarakham University

Participants 2382 people

Media coverage
See N:2 AC Dept1 Arts and Cultural ProjectsFY20151512 Winter Garden11 ReportClipping

The Japan Foundation, Bangkok, in collaboration with the Research Institute of Northeastern Art and Culture, Mahasarakham University co-organized “Winter Garden: The Exploration of the Micropop Imagination in Contemporary Japanese Art,” the exhibition by 14 young Japanese artists including Ryoko Aoki, Tam Ochiai, Lyota Yagi, Koki Tanaka, Hiroshi Sugito, Taro Izumi, Mahomi Kunikata, Aya Takano, Makiko Kudo, Chim↑Pom, Masanori Handa, Hiroe Saeki, Masaya Chiba and Keisuke Yamamoto and curated by Midori Matsui at Champasri Art Gallery of the Research Institute of Northeastern Art and Culture, at Mahasarakham University from Monday 11^th January to Wednesday 10^th February, 2016.

drawing for cat slide, 2007
color pencil,pencil on paper, 152.0×223.7 cm
Tam Ochiai

The exhibition featured 35 works through three categories. The first category included drawings, video and sound installation that manifested a process of association generated by insignificant details in everyday life. Representative artists of this category included Ryoko Aoki, Tam Ochiai, Koki Tanaka, Hiroshi Sugito and Lyota Yagi. The second category was combined with works associated with the creative use of contemporary Japanese subcultures, such as manga, anime, science fiction, computer games, TV reportage, and slapstick comedies to project the internal myth of the artists, capture the materiality of the performing body, or unveil a hidden truth about a place. Representative artists of this category were Aya Takano, Makiko Kudo, Mahomi Kunitaka, Taro Izumi and Chim↑Pom. The third and last one was composed of works that replicated or integrated the fundamental structure of self-generation among plants, animals and minerals, and constructed an environment or a pictorial space that conveyed to the spectators physical and psychological effects and impacts of external phenomena. Representative artists were Masanori Handa, Hiroe Saeki, Masaya Chiba and Keisuke Yamamoto.

Presenting their distinctive views of the world through the combination of fragments and imbuing the obsolete or the commonplace with new functions or meanings, the artists shared the similar style of expression which Matsui called ‘Micropop.” How did Japan’s artists, living in an increasingly globalized world and in a time when shared values were hard to establish see our contemporary world? It was hoped that visitors to Winter Garden would nurture the understanding of, and empathy with, the insights and perspectives of the artists through the exhibited works.

Performances by university students before the opening ceremony: Contemporary dance and Japanese Umbrella dance

VIP guests, including H.E. Mr. Shiro Sadoshima, the Japanese Ambassador to Thailand,
and Mr. Shigeki Kobayashi, the Counsellor of Embassy of Japan in Thailand,
attended the opening ceremony.