"Rikako Kawauchi: LOVE, Wild Grape, Tiger, heart" Held at Ota Ward Ryushi Memorial Museum. Attention on the Dialogue Between Kawauchi and Ryushi Across Eras
Rikako Kawauchi's solo exhibition opens at the Ota Ward Ryushi Memorial Museum, exploring shared expressions across eras alongside Ryushi's works.Summary
The Ota Ward Ryushi Memorial Museum in Omori, Tokyo, is hosting "Rikako Kawauchi: LOVE, Wild Grape, Tiger, heart," the first part of the "Kawabata Ryushi Plus One" series in collaboration with the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, running from September 12 to November 8. "Kawabata Ryushi Plus One" is a project that pairs works by contemporary artists that psychiatrist and renowned art collector Takahashi Ryutaro has identified with works by Japanese-style painter Kawabata Ryushi (1885–1966). Since 2021, the Ryushi Memorial Museum has continued its collaborative projects with the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection. This time, the museum welcomes Rikako Kawauchi in the first half and Aki Kondo in the second half, reinterpreting Ryushi's expression—which will mark the 60th anniversary of his death shortly—through dialogue between each contemporary artist's work and Ryushi's oeuvre.
Kawauchi, who will be featured in the first half of the exhibition, is an artist who has expressed themes such as the body, life, and otherness through motifs rooted in food and mythology. This exhibition will introduce major works from the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, including "LOVE" (2024), "The tiger jumps over a dancing pretzel" (2024), and "Baby" (2022), as well as "limb" (2018), which uses wire, and the drawing "grow" (2019). These works will be juxtaposed with Ryushi's large-scale pieces such as "Tiger's Room" (1947) and "Wild Grape" (1933), and Kawauchi's works will also be displayed in the former Kawabata Ryushi residence and his studio.
The exhibition aims to examine both artists' works from a fresh perspective by focusing on commonalities in their expressions that transcend the differences in medium (Japanese-style painting versus oil painting), era, and the historical and cultural contexts of their motifs. The second half of "Kawabata Ryushi Plus One," featuring Aki Kondo's "Ware wa, Watashi wa," is scheduled to run from November 21, 2026 to January 24, 2027.
(Source：美術手帖)