Writing Japanese Art History since 2000 (1)
Chisai Fujita is researcher of contemporary Asian art. Chisai decides to write art histories about several Asian countries and regions since 2000. Today, she writes about Japan.
Hi there, I am Chisai Fujita 藤田千彩, based on Kyoto, Japan, writing worker and researcher of contemporary Asian art. Recently I have noticed that neighboring Asian countries and regions have published art history books that they wrote by themselves since 2000. However, in Japan where I am based, there are almost no books about Japanese art history after 2000. So, I decided, "well, I will write it".
This article is based on a gallery tour "Writing Japanese Art History since 2000" 1 / Looking at Osamu Kokufu's artworks (1)" and Chisai considers Japanese art history from various angles and its state after 2000. (See introduction)
From “Bijutsu” to “A-to (ART in Japanese)”
If there is any time to switch to Japanese art history, I think one of them will be the year "1995".
The Tokyo Photographic Art Museum opened in January 1995 and the Museum Contemporary Art Tokyo opened in March 1995 (*1). Tokyo, you know, it is the capital city in Japan and Asia's leading metropolis. The Chiba City Museum of Art and The Toyota Municipal Museum of Art also opened in 1995. These have been actively holding exhibitions introducing contemporary artists and their works until now in 2023. These public museums can store artworks made by artists living in the same era as viewers. It means we can see the flow of Japanese art from the past to the present.
One more thing I want to say to you. I don't have any firm evidence, but I feel that Japanese word has changed. Around 1995, I often saw paintings and sculptures in galleries and museums, we said them "bijutsu 美術". However, as a university student in Tokyo, when I saw "dumb type" performance at SPIRAL in 1995, people called it "art". In Japanese, I think, "art" means wider genre and form of expression than "bijutsu" such as painting and sculpture. And "contemporary art" in English is called "gendai bijutsu" in Japanese. (Actually, they are not the same.)
That's why I think the Japanese art scene has changed from "bijutsu" to "a---to (art)" since about 1995. It means Japanese can see "contemporary art" rather than "modern art". There are not only Europe and America, but also Japan (sometimes Asia).
Museums, collections and curations
Under these chaotic circumstances, sculptures were still made as public art (actually still now). Sculptors lived in suburbs because Tokyo rent is expensive. It is unlikely that "Tokyo" museums use Tokyo's taxes and store their (artists based in rural areas in Japan) artworks.
What about the National Museum?
The National Museum of Art, Osaka houses "Tug Tricycle" (1995) by Osamu Kokufu (born in Kyoto, 1970-2014, see here) and exhibited it at the 2023 summer exhibition "Collection 80/90/00/10".
If the exhibition is an art history book, the exhibition space is one of its pages. We think so, let's look at the "Tug Tricycle". It was presented with university seniors' artworks together. One is Kodai Nakahara, he used materials and motifs that reminded everyone of their childhood, such as Astro Boy and Lego Block. Another is Kenji Yanobe, he took on social problems such as the Chernobyl nuclear accident by using characters like his alter ego. ("Dumb type" is also graduate of the same university as them Nakahara, Yanobe and Kokufu.)
So, how about Kokufu's "Tug Tricycle"? The explanation written on wall wrote, "(Kokufu's) childhood dream of longing for a supercar". "Tug 'Tri'cycle" has three wheels, supercars are not connected it. Rather, it is necessary to explain how "Tug Tricycle" connected with art history before and after and has a common or related intention or meaning with other works.
Or, if we want to put this artwork on a page in art history, we should mention the first exhibition it has ever exhibited.
According to his CV, he graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts in March 1994. In November 1994, he held his first solo exhibition at Art Space Niji (This gallery closed in 2017). He displayed artworks using bicycles and automobiles when he was a student. And in 1995, perhaps Kokufu made only this "Tug Tricycle".
Mr. H, who went on art tour in September 2023 together, was organizer of the exhibition where he exhibited "Tug Tricycle" for the first time, in 1995. It was exhibition called "conversion table vol.3" at the Nagoya Municipal Administration Museum.
"conversion table vol.3" leaflet (*2)
According to Mr. H's story and leaflet at that time (*2), Each of six artists was given an exhibition room, and Kokufu presented "Tug Tricycle" and graduation artworks. As far as leaflet is concerned, it doesn't seem that the participating artists have anything in common, and there seems to be no clear concept of exhibition. From the perspective of 2023, it may feel like a "worthless exhibition". However, Japanese exhibitions up to the 20th century consisted of various types of works, in Japan, "curation" was not imported yet.
Around 2000, Japanese art universities opened departments where students could study art management and curation. At the same time, art events with curators started, such as "Echigo Tsumari Triennale" and "Yokohama Triennale". Mr.H recalled that Japan did not yet use "curators" and "curations" in 1995. When I write art history, I need to be mindful of change.
So, next time, let's get a little closer to the background to this artwork "Tug Tricycle" and artist "Osamu Kokufu".
*1 / Bijutsu Techo (美術手帖) June, 2019(volume 71, Number 1076), p122
*2 / Mr.H said to me, “Kokufu chose this fish for the cover, photo by Masumi Oda”.