Past Exhibition

Tsubaki-kai 8: This New World  “Just/Here/Now”

Tsubaki-kai 8: This New World “Just/Here/Now”

Duration: October 31 (Tue) - December 24 (Sun), 2023

The “Tsubaki-kai” is a group show launched in 1947 with the reopening of the Shiseido Gallery following the wartime suspension of its activities. Named after the camellia (tsubaki) of the Shiseido symbol mark, and grounded in the belief that art has the capacity to offer hope and courage, Tsubaki-kai exhibitions have been staged even at times of post-war restriction, disaster and recession, out of a desire to help the world flourish once more.

Members of the 8th Tsubaki-kai are Hiroshi Sugito, Ryuji Nakamura, Nerhol, Futoshi Miyagi, Aiko Miyanaga, and [mé]. Their cross-genre activities and collaborations, and team-based production, make all these artists especially representative of their era.

Coronavirus pandemic has changed the mindset of artists and their gaze toward the world. In 2021, on the theme of “Impetus,” the artists made selection from the art collected by Shiseido at previous Tsubaki-kai exhibitions works that spark ideas around this “new world.” By presenting what they have chosen from the collection, and their personal responses to it, via their own works and methods, they attempted to bring new perspectives to the collection works, and create links between these, and the future. In 2022, with the theme of "Quest," we deepened the sharing of ideas among members, brought together their own artworks and things they treasure as materials, and created a collective space where the exhibition itself became a work of art.

As the artists this year continue their exploration of “richness” in the new, post-coronavirus world, two new key words have emerged: “leaving (as is)” and “indifference.” The idea is that turning attention to “leaving” matters to take their natural course, rather than taking them into our own hands, and to “indifference,” may prompt the emergence of new types of value. Behind this idea is an expectation that the subtle resistance to regimes of control that has been accelerated by the pandemic, and on the other hand, the leaving of things to others, and knowledge of things previously unthought of, may result in the creation of new ways of living together, and a freer world richer in many ways. Pursuing this line of thought, the artists arrived at a desire to value that which is “Just/Here/Now.” For this final exhibition, each will make a new work serving as the culmination of their past three years gaining experience and building relationships with each other. These will then be assembled into an exhibition taking their collective offerings to a higher level.

Visits with Nerhol to the studios of the eighth Tsubaki-kai artists this year will be covered on the Shiseido Gallery website and social media. Information on related programs and other ways to make the exhibition experience even more enjoyable will also be shared as it becomes available. We hope this Tsubaki-kai will once again serve as a setting for sharing different new kinds of value, and exploring new possibilities for co-creation.

The logo of "Tsubaki-kai 8" is newly designed by Yoshihisa Tanaka (graphic designer / Nerhol) every year.

Evolution of the Tsubaki-kai

Hiroshi Sugito

Born 1970 in Aichi. Graduated 1992 from the Department of Japanese Painting, Aichi University of the Arts. Sugioto’ s paintings are characterized by their delicate colors and shapes, rhythmically placed, and simple motifs the likes of tiny houses, sky, and boats. His 2016 solo outing “particles and release” at Toyota Municipal Museum of Art saw him collaborate with architect Jun Aoki to configure the exhibition space, and for his first solo show at a Tokyo museum, “module or lacuna” in 2017, in response to the gallery space of the Kunio Maekawa-designed Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, he unveiled the 15-meter-long painting module. He undertook exhibition design for “Omni-Sculptures - The Scene of Emergence” at Musashino Art University Museum in 2021. Recipient of the 68th (2017) Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Geijutsu Sensho art award.

Hiroshi Sugito seeds of mangos 2022 From the 2022 exhibition view

Hiroshi Sugito
seeds of mangos 2022
From the 2022 exhibition view

Ryuji Nakamura

Architect. Born 1972 in Nagano Prefecture. After earning his MArch at Tokyo University the Arts, and working with Jun Aoki & Associates (current AS), he established Ryuji Nakamura & Associates in 2004. Major works include Hechima (Collection The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, 2010 / San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2012), JINS Kyoto Teramachi-dori (2016), Kobe City Hall Citizens’ Lobby (2017), “MA nature” (2021); and with Shiseido, exhibition space design for “Beauty Crossing Ginza: Ginza + La Mode + Shiseido” (Shiseido Gallery, 2016) and interior design for Shiseido Beauty Square (Harajuku, 2020). Group show participations include “Where is Architecture? Seven installations by Japanese architects” (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2010) and “Anti-gravity” (Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, 2013). Recipient of the 6th Kyoto Architectural Award (2018) and the 32th JIA Rookie of the Year Award (2020) among other honors.

Ryuji Nakamura 《Hose》 2022 Ryuji Nakamura, Hiroshi Sugito 《Rope》 2022 From the 2022 exhibition view

Ryuji Nakamura 《Hose》 2022
Ryuji Nakamura, Hiroshi Sugito 《Rope》 2022
From the 2022 exhibition view

Nerhol

Artist duo consisting of Yoshihisa Tanaka and Ryuta Iida. Taking portraits, roadside trees, animals and water, as well as image data and recorded footage found on the internet as their source material, they have continued to develop their oeuvre of three-dimensional works created by carving into stacks of hundreds of photographs shot in rapid succession, the result of which are images that appear to distort even the very time axis of the subjects themselves. Such works have consistently engaged in an attempt to reveal the multilayered manner of existence harbored within organic entities, which often tend to be overlooked in the context of our day-to-day lives. Major exhibitions include “Interview, Portrait, House and Room” (Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea, 2017) and “Promenade” (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2015), Nerhol “Affect” (Dai-ichi Life Gallery / M5 Gallery, 2023). Recipients of the VOCA Prize in 2020.

Nerhol 《Trifolium repens》 2022 From the 2022 exhibition view

Nerhol 《Trifolium repens》 2022
From the 2022 exhibition view

Futoshi Miyagi

Born 1981 in Okinawa. Graduated from The City University of New York in 2005. Major solo exhibitions include ”How Many Nights” (Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, 2017) and ”American Boyfriend: Portraits and Banners”(void+、Yutaka Kikutake Gallery, 2022) . His “American Boyfriend” project, launched in 2012, explores via artworks and talk events the relationship between an Okinawan man and American man falling in love in Okinawa. His works to date on subjects including his own identity, his native Okinawa, and American culture have taken the form of not only photographs and works on video but also novels.

Futoshi Miyagi 《Banner (from A Japanese Nightingale and Serenade)》 2022

Futoshi Miyagi
《Banner (from A Japanese Nightingale and Serenade)》 2022

Aiko Miyanaga

Born 1974 in Kyoto. BFA in sculpture from Kyoto University of Art and Design; MFA in Intermedia Art from Tokyo University of the Arts. Miyanaga participated in the 3rd Shiseido Art Egg program. She spent a year in Edinburgh, Scotland on the 2007 Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists, and in 2011 winning the 22nd Gotoh Memorial Foundation emerging artist prize granted her a sojourn in the US and Latin America. Miyanaga has garnered attention with works that visualize the passage of time through traces left from everyday objects cast out of naphthalene and installations formed of crystallized salt. Recent solo exhibitions include “Utakata no Kasane” (The Museum of Kyoto, 2020) and “Rowing Style” (Takamatsu Art Museum, 2019)、”Wrapping a Verse“ (Toyama Glass Art Museum, 2023-2024). She is the first Tsubaki-kai member to have also taken part in Shiseido Art Egg.

Aiko Miyanaga 《suitcase -wealth of the sea-》2022 From the 2022 exhibition view

Aiko Miyanaga
《suitcase -wealth of the sea-》2022
From the 2022 exhibition view

[mé]

Artist collective presenting works that endeavor to offer an immersive insight into the uncertainties of the real world. For [mé] the likes of technique and genre are of less importance than situation and path followed around the exhibition, including elements such as the gallery space, and audience. Their approach to the creative process is one of teamwork that utilizes the individual characteristics of the current principle members (artist Haruka Kojin, director Kenji Minamigawa, and illustrator Hirofumi Masui), combined with the exploration of relationships that will enhance ideas, decision-making, the refining of partnerships in bringing the work to fruition, and a shared creative consciousness at a spiritual level. Their solo shows including “Unreliable Reality – The Where of This World” (Shiseido Gallery, 2014) and “Obviously no one can make heads nor tails” (Chiba City Museum of Art, 2019), participation in the Saitama Triennale 2016, and “masayume” project, Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL Special 13 (2019-21) have drawn significant public interest. Directing Art Saitama 2023.

[mé] The riverbed where[mé]often go when they have to think about something. Kenji Shiratori (a blind art appreciator and a photographer) confronts that scenery. This is a record fo the conversation between Shiratori and the scenery" 2002 Video 26min 57sec   From the 2022 exhibition view.

[mé]
The riverbed where[mé]often go when they have to think about something. Kenji Shiratori (a blind art appreciator and a photographer) confronts that scenery. This is a record fo the conversation between Shiratori and the scenery" 2002
Video 26min 57sec  
From the 2022 exhibition view.

2022 exhibition view Photo by Ken Kato

Tsubaki-kai 8: This New World “Just/Here/Now”

Sponsor Shiseido Company, Limited.
Duration October 31 (Tue) to December 24 (Sun), 2023
Venue Shiseido Gallery
Tokyo Ginza Shiseido Building B1F, 8-8-3 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Tel. 03-3572-3901 Fax 03-3572-3951
Hours Weekdays 11am–7pm
Sundays and holidays 11am–6pm
Closed Mondays (including holidays falling on Monday)
Admission free

Related Programs

Details of related programs will be announced on the Shiseido Gallery website.

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