Chiyuki Sakagami “Scriptures from the Birds”

Dates: May 12 – June 10, 2012
Venue: MEM map
open hours：12:00-20:00　closed on Mondays
tel. 03-6459-3205

opening reception　May 12, 18:00-

　”Scriptures from the Birds” is a sequel to “Naturalis Historia” that she made with blue ink on paper last year.
Sakagami pays an homage to the birds, the creature she loves the most on the earth. There are more than 40 drawings at the show.

Yoshio Kitayama “Picture of living/dying”

Dates: March 17 – April 15, 2012
Venue: MEM map
open hours：12:00-20:00　closed on Mondays
tel. 03-6459-3205

MEM presents the solo exhibition Picture of living/dying by Yoshio Kitayama. The artist first started creating large-scale monochrome ink paintings on Japanese paper in 1997, which are categorized into two types: “Icon” and “Universe”. “Icon” ink paintings show enlarged human figures drawn from clay dolls the artist made himself. The resulting composition brims with layers of figures, and suggests not only the interplay among individuals in human history, but also between nations, races and societies. In the “Universe” series, the accumulation of the artist’s varied mark making in black ink creates a series of stunning depictions of the universe, which could be compared to the Mandala image in Buddhism. The ink paintings contain both the cosmos and—as Carl Jung commented on Mandalas— “a representation of the unconscious self.”

The central piece of the exhibition, History is written by the dead, presents a river of the dead streaming diagonally across the paper. In the right hand corner hundreds of figures disappear into the distance as they are blown from the river into the heavens. A group of the artist’s own ancestors stand at the edge of the frame where they witness the relentless cycling of life.

The picture that was taken down features a prominent Christ-like figure, though in Kitayama’s rendition he is female. The piece is a result of two stages of completion; Kitayama filled the background with a cascade of figures after he presented the Christ-figure in an empty field as a finished piece. Kitayama’s art practice often questions conventions in an artists’ process.

The exhibition’s title piece, Picture of living/dying, challenges the assumption that life and death are separate states of existence. Eroticism combines with faces of the living and dying multitudes in a transcendent celebration of the coexistence and simultaneous occurrence of life and death.
Kitayama’s painstaking and meticulous ink painting process underpin the monumental scale and power of his works. His expansive ink paintings invite the viewer to share, if but for a moment, a perspective broad enough to encompass the universe, the unknown and the entire scope and nature of human existence.

Yoshio Kitayama was born in 1948 in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. His sculptures and paintings have been presented internationally in many institutions and venues including the 40th Venezia Biennale, the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, the Asian Art Biennale, Bangladesh and the Triennale India. He lives and works in Kyoto.

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• English
• Japanese

Maki Toshima “Meta.Morphos”

Dates: February 10 – 26, 2012
Venue: MEM map
open hours：12:00-20:00　closed on Mondays
tel. 03-6459-3205

Talk: Friday, February 10, 18:30-　Hide Nakaya × Maki Toshima
Venue: MEM
Free entry (30 person capacity)
*NADiff A/P/A/R/T Joint Opening 18:00-

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• English
• Japanese

Ken Kitano “our face project: Asia”

November 26, 2011 – January 29, 2012
Open hours: 12:00 – 20:00  closed on Mondays
Winter holidays: December 26 – January 6


Features portraits from Ken Kitano’s “our face” series, taken in countries around the world and at work places, schools and places of worship. This time he will showcase those taken in Asia, including Japan. There will also be photographs from his series showing Mexican murals that he has been creating since 1997.

Opening reception: November 26, Sat. 18:00-
Talk: December 16, Fri. 18:30- at MEM
       Kaoru Kato (art critic) × Ken Kitano
       Admission free

Ken Kitano will also participate in a group exhibition at Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography to exhibit 7 pieces of our face in large size.
Contemporary Japanese Photography vol.10 ‒ elan photographic –
Period：December 10 (Sat) – January 29 (Sun)
Venue：Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita Meguro-ku Tokyo)
Artists: KITANO Ken, SANO Yoichi , SOENO Kazuyuki, NISHINO Sohei, HARUKI Maiko

MEM
NADiff A/P/A/R/T 2F, 1-18-4, Ebisu, Shibuyaku, Tokyo 150-0013
Tel. 03-6459-3205

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• English
• Japanese

Iwata Nakayama Portfolio 2010

October 8, Sat. – November 20, Sun
Open hours: 12:00 – 20:00  closed on Mondays

Iwata Nakayama (1895-1949) established the Lacan Studio in New York in the 1920s, and subsequently moved to Paris, where he developed close relationships with Leonard Foujita and a coterie of Futurist artists. Upon his return to Japan he moved to Ashiya, where he founded a camera club in 1930 that brought him much acclaim. Nakayama’s experiments with darkroom techniques using a variety of materials allowed him to create multi-layered images that left a lasting impact on the history of modern Japanese photography.
This exhibition commemorates the publication of a portfolio of Nakayama’s work that was produced using dry photographic plates.

Lecture by Ryuichi Kaneko: October 8, Sat. 17:00-18:00 at MEM
Opening reception: October 8, Sat. 18:00-

MEM
NADiff A/P/A/R/T 2F, 1-18-4, Ebisu, Shibuyaku, Tokyo 150-0013
Tel. 03-6459-3205

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• English
• Japanese

Hisaji Hara “Picture, Photography and Beyond”

September 3, Sat. – October 2, Sun
Open hours: 12:00 – 20:00  closed on Mondays

“Whether through photography or painting, ultimately, we are obliged to search within a subject for truth.”

In 2009, Hisaji Hara presented the series, A Photographic Portrayal of the Paintings of Balthus, bringing together these two modes of artistic expression. An important collection of works, including heretofore unexhibited still lifes, has been selected from this series for the current show. Hara has embraced the traditional process of albumen silver development, as well as more contemporary technology that converts digital data into inkjet prints. Works created through these contrasting methods are to inhabit the same space in this exhibit, allowing viewers to travel between the realms of painting and photography, the analog and the digital, thus engaging them in an exploration of many borders.

MEM
NADiff A/P/A/R/T 2F, 1-18-4, Ebisu, Shibuyaku, Tokyo 150-0013
Tel. 03-6459-3205

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• English
• Japanese

summer group show

July 23 -August 28
Open hours: 12:00 – 20:00
artists: Ken Kitano, Yoshihisa Kitatsuji, Yoshio Kitayama, Tomoko Sawada, Yasumasa Morimura, Lee Sun-Kyung
Summer holidays: August 15 – 22

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• English
• Japanese

Yasue Kodama “Deep Rhyme 2011 – watatsumi-”
New Paintings

June 11, Sat. – July 17, Sun
Open hours: 12:00 – 20:00  closed on Mondays

MEM
NADiff A/P/A/R/T 2F, 1-18-4, Ebisu, Shibuyaku, Tokyo 150-0013
Tel. 03-6459-3205

Chiyuki Sakagami  ”NATURALIS HISTORIA”

March 26 – April 22, 2011
Open hours: 12:00 – 20:00  closed on Mondays

MEM
NADiff A/P/A/R/T 2F, 1-18-4, Ebisu, Shibuyaku, Tokyo 150-0013

MEM is pleased to present Naturalis Historia by Chiyuki Sakagami.  This is her first solo show since 2000.
Naturalis Historia includes 32 new works on paper by blue ink.  The drawings show various kinds of creatures, insects, and imaginary monsters.  Sakagami especially features birds which she personally admires.  In addition to the ink drawings, some watercolors and etchings will be added.