Yuasa Eboshi and Postwar Avant-Garde Metamorphosis Fables @ Nerima Art Museum
An exhibition at Nerima Art Museum explores the theme of "metamorphosis" through works by Yuasa Eboshi and postwar avant-garde artists such as Ikeda Tatsuo.Summary
Nerima Art Museum presents "Yuasa Eboshi and Postwar Avant-Garde Metamorphosis Fables," an exhibition running from October 31 to December 27, 2026, that introduces works by contemporary artist Yuasa Eboshi alongside postwar Japanese avant-garde artists Ikeda Tatsuo, Takayama Ryosaku, Nakamura Hiro, and others, using "metamorphosis" as its keyword.
Yuasa Eboshi (born 1983 in Chiba) creates paintings by combining images gathered from old magazines, newspapers, and the internet, while also inventing and presenting the life story of "Yuasa Eboshi, a fictional third-rate Taisho-born painter" (1924-1987). Drawing inspiration from past images to transform into the fictional deceased painter "Eboshi," the artist calls themself a "mimicry school" and attempts to travel back and forth between the postwar era in which "Eboshi" lived and the present. Alongside new works shown in this exhibition, new events are added to "Eboshi's" chronology, revealing new stories surrounding the works. Recent exhibitions include the solo show "Yuasa Eboshi | Deikai" (Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, 2025) and the group shows "MOT Collection: Multiple_Self-Portrait" (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2025) and "Layered Time: Painting This World" (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2025).
After World War II, avant-garde artists depicted war memories, the contradictions of postwar society, and the transformation of the human image through images of wounded and distorted humans, chimeric monsters, and eerie masks. These expressions arose from the deep insight into reality of artists interested in Surrealism and the reportage painting movement. By depicting metamorphosis and deformation from familiar forms, the artists opened up unique expressive worlds that allegorically convey the events behind them. The exhibition introduces museum-collected artists Ikeda, Takayama, and Nakamura, along with Yuasa, who has focused on their expressions, as well as Akutagawa (Madokoro) Saori, Katsura Yuki, Tsuruoka Masao, and Furusawa Iwami, tracing the spread of the "metamorphosis" motif in postwar art. Novelist Ogawa Satoshi (born 1986) also collaborates specially, presenting poems by a fictional poet concerning the secrets of "Yuasa Eboshi's" paintings. Related events include gallery talks by the curator, an artist talk between Yuasa Eboshi and Ogawa Satoshi, and a lecture by Toba Koji.
(Source：ART iT)