"Akira Yamaguchi: See/Society/Things" to Be Held at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo in June 2027; New Works Also to Be Unveiled
Akira Yamaguchi's major solo exhibition will be held at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo from June 18, 2027, featuring works from his early career to new pieces.Summary
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, in Takebashi, will host the exhibition "Akira Yamaguchi: See/Society/Things" from June 18 to August 29, 2027. Akira Yamaguchi (born 1969) is an artist whose diverse practice includes oil paintings using traditional Japanese painting styles, as well as three-dimensional works, installations, manga, and writing. The exhibition focuses on Yamaguchi's practice of questioning the framework of art, drawing on pre-modern expressions and modern/contemporary popular culture that were marginalized during the process of importing and establishing the concept and system of art in Japan after the Meiji Restoration. As a student, Yamaguchi confronted the history of Japanese art formed with Western models and sought his own expression. Using oil paint, he incorporated the styles of classical paintings such as battle scenes and Rakuchu-Rakugai zu, mechanical motifs, urban landscapes including department stores, and panoramic and manga-like expressions, creating a unique pictorial space where past and present intermingle. The title "See/Society/Things" indicates: "See" as the subject who sees; "Society" as the social and institutional conditions that direct seeing; and "Things" as the objects seen and their value systems. The exhibition focuses on the various elements hidden behind "seeing" and broadly introduces Yamaguchi's works from his early career to new pieces.
(Source：美術手帖)