Gallery tour of last event

You can look at the photos of the gallery tour by Kenta Oka and english tour by Judit Kawaguchi.

You can read more about Kenta Oka's tour in Japanese from Kenta Oka's blog. (Fallow the link of 'Event' page from our official website )


Mr.Oka, a well known comedian and also known as an art collector, navigated the guests to 7 to 8 galleries. He had a plot or a theme for each tour and that is how he decided which gallery and what to see.


The theme of the first tour was "What is history? To find the past in works of today." They enjoyed traditional a large Chinese porcelain,  small ceramics of Kanzan, contemporary paintings of flags, paintings of Kumanokodo (an old path that leads to three major shrines of Kumano),  collaboration of Japanese style living room and contemporary art, contemporary art craft and at the end, the ancient jomon vessels where our Japanese history of art has begun.

The theme of second tour was "Viewing life in art". They enjoyed antiques that could be used in daily life, the coordination of vases and flowers, dishes with meanings and symbols, buddhist art which leads us to the emptiness, contemporary art that expresses the young Japanese of today who are changing directions by informations and fashion and is always connected with someone, design craft works, calligraphy, tea bowls, and at last a traditional japanese painting. The aim for this tour was to think about the caliber of each one. To buy a work of art means to read the flow of life and to ask yourself if you are choosing the one you really need.

The theme (or the question) of the third tour was "Why is there so many antique shops in Kyobashi area?" The first gallery they went was Iidakojitsudo where it used to be a studio of Nansai Maeda (an edo craftsman). The owner talked about the mystery of this area. There is a mark of Hiroshige Ando's (an Ukiyo-e printmaker) House near by. On the same side of the street, there is the house of Kanou family (painter), and across, is the birthplace of Togyu Okumura (painter) and Kiitsu Suzuki (painter) where now stands the Bridgestone Museum. On Showa dori, there was the house of Taro Okamoto's grand father, Katei Okamoto (calligrapher) where Rosanjin Kitaoji stayed as a student. The 2nd floor of Kashima-Arts Co.,Ltd used to be Rosanjin's private restaurant Bishoku Club and studios of Tanyu Kano (painter), Rodo Ougi (tea ceremony house carpenter), Seisai Ougi (craftsman). And last but not least, there was the Chiba Dojyo where Ryoma Sakamoto practiced kendo. The Kyobashi area was full of craftsman and artists. This is the reason why there are so many antique dealers in this area.

The guests enjoyed the story telling of the owner Iidakojitsudo and went on to see the craftsmanship of bamboo baskets, a calligraphy-like paintings, paintings of a contemporary Nihonbashi born artist, ceramics of the edo period, the finest craftsmanship of the Kokutani, and Ebiya Art which is a purveyor to the Imperial Household Agency. They ended the tour enjoying a painting of Nihonbashi area painted from the street of Ebiya Art.

Talk events and Gallery tours from last event

You can now look at the photos of the talk sessions and gallery tours from the last event at our official website.

Contemporary Art in History
Speakers : Yutaka Mino (Director, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art)  & Takashi Murakami (artist)

Mr.Mino and Mr.Murakami discussed and compared various subject about contemporary art and antique art in Japan.
Mr.Yutaka discussed his concerns about museums and culture in Japan; about what museums need to do to invite and educate the young Japanese. In Japan, the population of museum visitor is very high as well as the age group.
Mr.Murakami showed the first antique he purchased in Kyoto. Since then, he has been collecting crafts and contemporary art crafts and has been selling them at his gallery shop. Mr.Murakami says that the quality of antique depend on the history the object carries and what you see in them.  The idea of mitate (to seek a different quality in something that it originally did not have) is his interest in craft (especially ones of second class).
Questions where asked from the audience to both speakers about the art market and why they have to be so expensive, producing young artist, and does age have relation with collecting antiques.

You can read more or watch USTREAM (both only in Japanese) at KaiKai KiKi's Japanese website.

(Fallow the link of 'Event' page from our official website )

The Attraction of Looking at, Buying and Collecting Art
Speakers: : Tomio Koyama (Tomio Koyama Gallery) & Nameko Shinsan (artist, manga illustrator and essayist)

Tomio Koyama's profession is dealing with world wide contemporary art. Although he is not a professional antique dealer, he collects and appriciate antiques as one of his collection of art. He has published a book about how to buy and appreciate them from the view of his own. On the other hand, Ms.Nameko has never purchased or collected an antique in her life. She questions Mr.Koyama about purchasing antiques as a beginer and her great interest is about the spiritual side of dealing with antiques.
She asks about how to start with going into the galleries, such as; Do you have to dress properly? What is the easy genre you can get started with? Her questions about antique galleries are probably what most people have - a place where you need courage to step in, and a place of too many things to know about before you step in. She is also concerned about the spiritual energy of the former owner that might dwell in it.
Mr.Koyama answers these questions in simple words and says that the most important thing is to actually ask the staff in the gallery or find a navigator who can teach you the knowledge about certain items. The most enjoyable part of antique is to think about the history and the people who made it. Of course, if you are concerned about the spiritual energy that might be attached to the item, you might want to buy something you don't have to worry about.

Tokyo Art & Antiques' blog starts now!

Hello,
We are starting an english blog of "Tokyo Art & Antiques -The Nihonbashi/Kyobashi Art and Antiques Festival".
We have a blog in japanese, but we would like to give more informations about it.
Please look forward for the informations and the festival for next year 2010.

The official web site is here. Tokyo Art & Antiques

For now, we are informing the schedule of the next event.

2011
Thursday, April 28
Friday, April 29
Saturday, April 30
Sunday, May 1

We are planning many programs during the event!
Hopefully in November, we can announce all of the galleries that will be participating this event.
Also, we will be showing photos of the galleries and programs from last year.


So, what is "Tokyo Art & Antiques"?
The district of Nihonbashi / Kyobashi, in Tokyo's Chuo Ward, has been famous since the post-war era for its dealers in classical art, craft, nihon-ga painting, modern painting, sculpture, prints and so on. Now, the district boasts around 150 such unique specialist galleries, making it second only to Ginza as Tokyo's preeminent arts zone.

During "Tokyo Arts & Antiques" of 2010,  each participating gallery will stay open until 8 p.m., creating a wonderful opportunity for visitors to spend an early-summer evening strolling through the town, visiting galleries and searching out that special must-have antique or artwork. In addition, in order to make it easier for as many people as possible to take advantage of the event, each participant gallery were open for business on both Saturday, May 1, and Sunday, May 2, and each were endeavor in its own way to provide its visitors with a unique and unforgettable experience.

During the event of 2010, there also was a wide range of related programs, including talk sessions, tours by well-known personalities and English language tours, each designed to enhance enjoyment of the event for a range of visitors – from experts and beginner-collectors to visitors from abroad.

In recent years there has been an increased level of interest in classical art, antiques and painting across a wide spectrum of age-groups in Japan. The number of art fans and collectors is on the rise. Nevertheless, chances to actually experience such art pieces directly are rare. Some people report interest in such items, but do not know how to go about building their own collections, while others find they have to work up courage just to enter the somewhat imposing environments of some art galleries and dealers.

The objective of "Tokyo Art & Antiques" is to provide an opportunity for many people, regardless of their age, knowledge or origin, to experience Japanese art and antiques firsthand and thereby become acquainted with the joys of collecting.


Talk sessions from last event:
Tilte: Contemporary Art in History
Speakers : Yutaka Mino (Director, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art) x Takashi Murakami (artist)
Did you know that you can see the roots of contemporary art in classical art and hints of classical art in contemporary art? In this historically important talk, we explore the existing connections between the classical and the
contemporary, and think about how else they should be connected.

Title: The Attraction of Looking at, Buying and Collecting Art
Speakers: : Tomio Koyama (Tomio Koyama Gallery) ×　Nameko Shinsan (artist, manga illustrator and essayist)
Buying art is a serious commitment. Don't be embarrassed to ask questions. This is your chance to get frank advice from veteran
collectors.

Gallery Tours from last event:
Some people feel they have to work up courage just to cross the threshold of galleries. They don't know what they should look for, or how they should judge it. These lively and fun tours of galleries will increase your enjoyment of classical art ten-fold! The guide for the Japanese-language tours is well-known comedian and long-time collector of contemporary art, Kenta Oka, who will present his own unique and humorous take on art and collecting.
Meanwhile, special English-language tours will be conducted by NHK television reporter Judit Kawaguchi.