Getting Arty – What’s on in Nagoya’s Galleries

Mar 25, 2024

Getting Arty – What’s on in Nagoya’s Galleries

Art lovers in Nagoya have been a little disappointed in recent years. Firstly, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts closed down in 2018, and now the Nagoya City museum is undergoing a renovation that will not see it reopen until 2026. However, there are still some great exhibitions be be seen around the city. Below are a few that can help slake your artistic thirsts this coming month.

Nagoya City Art Museum
Yoshimoto Sakuji – Pictorial Pilgrimage

With his large-screen works featuring heavy textures, contrasting images, and bold strokes, Yoshimoto Sakuji made a considerable splash upon his Nagoya debut in the 1980s. Following an exploration into a broad array of influences such as Chinese paintings and the Renaissance, he has forged a new path, and this Pictorial Pilgrimage is exhibited here through some 200 oil paintings and drawings.

Where: Shirokawa Park, 2 Chome-17-25, Sakae, Naka Ward, Nagoya (map)
Website: art-museum.city.nagoya.jp
When: April 6 – June 9, 2024

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Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Art
Photograph Memories of Flowers – Sarah Fujisawa

When are photographs not photographs? When they are memories. Inspired by the way a photograph she took of a mustard field was so different to the field of her memories, Sarah Fujiwara began to experiment with how she could visualize her memories through contemporary photographic art. Using blurring and peeling techniques, Fujiwara seeks to express the ambiguity of memory in her unique Flower Trilogy, a series of flower images that can change in appearance depending on the viewer’s state of mind.

Where: 1 Chome-19-30 Aoi, Higashi Ward, Nagoya (map)
Website: mazak-art.com
When: April 26 – June 30, 2024

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International Design Center Nagoya
Nakaku Design Project 2024

Focusing on the artistic activities of young people in Nagoya’s Naka ward, Nakaku Design Project 2024 is an endeavor to engender ties between artistic students and larger organizations. Running the whole gamut of Naka Ward, from east to west, it explores themes such as city impressions, scenery, and future images of the area. It is a great place to see tomorrow’s artists and designers, today.

Where: Naka Ward, Sakae, 3 Chome−18−No. 1 Design Centre Building (map)
Website: www.idcn.jp
When: April 16-18, 2024

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Furukawa Art Museum
Delicious, Fun, Nostalgic

Delving deeply into the extensive Furukawa Art collection, the current exhibition explores three themes that aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. Oishii [Delicious] playfully displays paintings of tableware and seasonal food, plus other mediums connected to drinking vessels. Tanoshii [Fun] exhibits works that depict scenes of, amongst others, festivals, cherry blossom viewing parties, and boating. Finally, Natsukashii [Nostalgic] focuses on landscape scenes from the ‘good old days’. It is an interesting exploration of the good things in life from a particularly Japanese perspective

Where: 2 Chome-50 Ikeshita, Chikusa Ward, Nagoya (map)
Website: furukawa-museum.or.jp
When: March 2 – April 14, 2024

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Image: by Kenta Morigami via flickr.com [CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED]
Image: via https://art-museum.city.nagoya.jp/
Image: via https://www.mazak-art.com/index.cgi?mode=schedule_view&submode=next
Image: via https://www.idcn.jp/en/wp-content/uploads/240416_nakaku.jpg
Image: via https://www.furukawa-museum.or.jp/show_exhibit?time_seq=0