展示風景展示風景《To the air which we below call clear and transparent——the pure heaven——‘what a difference the east wind does make to some people!’——It is the sun, with its coppery glow, sent forth no rays while our earth lay wrapped in an orange-colored mist.The rainbow spread from the dark through the blue air. She heard the song of the birds but dreamt nothing about going out to the wide world.It never entered her mind. The scent of apple orchards was charming, she seemed to taste its sweetness.》2024年展示風景《物質の隔たり、魂の繫がり》2020年
Kenjiro Okazaki: Time Unfolding Here, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
I viewed “Time Unfolding Here,” a culminating exhibition by Kenjiro Okazaki — one of Japan’s leading visual artists — at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.Kenjiro Okazaki occupies a unique position in Japanese contemporary art — a rare figure who traverses making, theory, education, and criticism all at once.
While this show is the culmination of that broad practice, it is not a “retrospective”; it lets you experience the present tense of creation, open toward the future.
Floor 1 | Works Through 2020
The first-floor display was organized as a zone tracing the development of Okazaki’s sculpture and painting from his early period to the present, with various works arranged chronologically.
Forms inspired by clothing patterns (from the German magazine burda) are introduced, letting you sense Okazaki’s unique formal thinking, transferring the lines of the human body into three dimensions.A dressmaking-magazine pattern insert, a drawing of lines selected from it, and a maquette reflecting the drawing’s lines
Installation view — Akasaka Mitsuke series17:27, 1987Installation viewBlue Slope, 1989Sneeze (Keeping the Heart Inside the Mouth), 2010Installation view
Floor 2 | Interlude
On the second floor were paintings drawn during his 2021 hospitalization for a cerebral infarction, along with related works.Something Overhead, 2021–2022The work “Something Overhead” is a set of drawings Okazaki made from just after he collapsed from a cerebral infarction in 2021, through his hospitalization and the course of rehabilitation. About a month after onset, just as movement began to return to his paralyzed right hand, he reportedly took up a thick colored pencil brought to him and began to draw; the way the work changes over time was striking.
Floor 3 | Works from 2022 Onward
The third floor centered on new and recent works.
Here, the expressive world since the creative turning point Okazaki reached after his serious illness was presented at an extremely high density. The sheer number of works is overwhelming.Installation view
Installation view《To the air which we below call clear and transparent——the pure heaven——‘what a difference the east wind does make to some people!’——It is the sun, with its coppery glow, sent forth no rays while our earth lay wrapped in an orange-colored mist.The rainbow spread from the dark through the blue air. She heard the song of the birds but dreamt nothing about going out to the wide world.It never entered her mind. The scent of apple orchards was charming, she seemed to taste its sweetness.》2024Installation view
The Distance of Matter, the Connection of Souls, 2020As in the photo, many giant three-dimensional works, scaled up a notch from before, were on display. High-resolution scans of clay originals, enlarged and reproduced, they radiated an overwhelming presence.Installation view
Installation view
《Heaven’s Path Dim —Threads Rise to Light, Lines Seek the Deep》2025Finally, beside the museum shop “NADiff contemporary” inside, there was a small but thoughtfully arranged display space.Installation view
展览现场《To the air which we below call clear and transparent——the pure heaven——‘what a difference the east wind does make to some people!’——It is the sun, with its coppery glow, sent forth no rays while our earth lay wrapped in an orange-colored mist.The rainbow spread from the dark through the blue air. She heard the song of the birds but dreamt nothing about going out to the wide world.It never entered her mind. The scent of apple orchards was charming, she seemed to taste its sweetness.》2024年展览现场
《Heaven’s Path Dim —Threads Rise to Light, Lines Seek the Deep》2025年最后，在馆内博物馆商店「NADiff contemporary」旁，还设有一处规模虽小却别具匠心的展示空间。展览现场
오카자키 겐지로 「이금이후 지콘지고」 도쿄도 현대미술관
일본을 대표하는 조형 작가 오카자키 겐지로의 집대성적 전시 「이금이후 지콘지고」를 도쿄도 현대미술관에서 관람했습니다.오카자키 겐지로는 일본 현대미술 중에서도 독특한 위치에 선 작가로, 조형·이론·교육·비평 전부를 넘나드는 드문 존재입니다.
본 전시는 그 광범위한 실천의 집대성이면서도 「회고」가 아니라, 미래로 열린 창조의 현재형을 체험할 수 있는 전시입니다.
1층 ｜ 2020년까지의 작업
1층 전시는 오카자키 겐지로의 조형과 회화가 초기부터 현재까지 발전해 온 과정을 따라가는 존으로, 다양한 작품이 시계열 순으로 전시 구성되어 있었습니다.
의복 패턴(독일 잡지 『burda』)에서 착상을 얻은 조형이 소개되어, 인체의 선을 입체로 옮기는 오카자키의 독특한 조형 사고를 실감할 수 있습니다.재봉 잡지 부록 패턴과, 거기서 골라낸 선의 드로잉, 드로잉의 선을 반영한 마케트
전시 전경～아카사카 미쓰케 시리즈《17시 27분》 1987년전시 전경《Blue Slope》 1989년《재채기(마음을 입 안에 넣어 두다)》 2010년전시 전경
2층 ｜ interlude
2층에서는 2021년 뇌경색 입원 중에 그려진 회화와 그에 관련된 작품이 전시되어 있었습니다.《머리 위로 무언가가》 2021-2022년작품 《머리 위로 무언가가》는, 오카자키 겐지로가 2021년 뇌경색으로 쓰러진 직후부터 입원 중, 재활 과정에서 그린 드로잉입니다. 발병 약 한 달 후, 마비된 오른손에 겨우 움직임이 돌아오기 시작한 시점에 넣어 준 굵은 색연필을 쥐고 그리기 시작했다고 하며, 시간이 지나며 작품이 변화해 가는 모습이 인상적이었습니다.
3층 ｜ 2022년 이후의 작업
3층에서는 신작·근작을 중심으로 전개되어 있었습니다.
이곳에서는 오카자키 겐지로가 큰 병을 거쳐 맞이한 창작의 전환점 이후의 표현 세계가 극히 밀도 높게 제시되어 있었습니다. 아무튼 작품 수에 압도됩니다.전시 전경
전시 전경《To the air which we below call clear and transparent——the pure heaven——‘what a difference the east wind does make to some people!’——It is the sun, with its coppery glow, sent forth no rays while our earth lay wrapped in an orange-colored mist.The rainbow spread from the dark through the blue air. She heard the song of the birds but dreamt nothing about going out to the wide world.It never entered her mind. The scent of apple orchards was charming, she seemed to taste its sweetness.》2024년전시 전경
《물질의 간극, 영혼의 이어짐》 2020년사진처럼 기존보다 한층 스케일업한 거대한 입체 작품이 다수 전시되어 있었습니다. 점토 원형을 고정밀 스캔해 확대 복제한 이것들은 압도적인 존재감을 뿜어냈습니다.전시 전경
전시 전경
《Heaven’s Path Dim —Threads Rise to Light, Lines Seek the Deep》2025년마지막으로, 관내 뮤지엄 숍 「NADiff contemporary」 옆에는 소규모이지만 정성이 담긴 전시 공간이 마련되어 있었습니다.전시 전경
