The Tokyo Type Directors Club Exhibition 2004

Thru June 24

This year DDD gallery will hold the Tokyo Type Directors Club Exhibition 2004, which has become a fixture in the typography world's schedule. TDC (Tokyo Type Directors Club) holds an annual international design competition on visual representation in typography.

Again this year a large number of entries from around the world were received and the TDC Grand Prize and other award-winning works have again been decided after a rigorous examination. The present exhibition introduces the award-winning works, in advance of publication of the TDC Annual 2004 in August. The works provide a view of the latest trends in typography around the world. We are also pleased to announce that a gallery talk will be held during the exhibition period.

DDD Gallery
Nishi-Umeda stn or Higobashi stn.
Open: 10am–6pm, closed on Sat, Sun, Holidays • Admission: Free
Tel: 06-6347-8780

Logoland — An Art Project for Osaka

June 5 - 11

When first arriving in Osaka to begin a three-month residency at Caphouse, Kobe, British sculptor Adrian Scrivener was impressed by the vast array of striking symbols and corporate logos that appeared throughout the city. In a place where the spoken language and even alphabet was so different, these pre-language signs seemed to offer a foothold by which he could begin to connect — both culturally to a different way of life, and physically to a new spatial environment.

By photographing, redrawing, then cataloguing over 500 of these symbols, he has effectively cut a cross section through the graphic language of the city — to reveal a link between commercial enterprise and artistic sensibility unique to Japan.
Details and patterns emerging from this process are explored in a range of 2- dimensional prints and books. But the entire volume itself is further treated en masse, to become the material from which a succession of “Kansai Cubes” are created. These three-dimensional structures echo the box-like forms that so dominate the region’s urban morphology.

Finally, these cuboids become modular, clumping together to suggest the beginnings of a sprawling conurbation — a city of sign, a landscape of pure logo.

Gallery Yamagawa (Mountain Side Gallery)
Caphouse
JR/Hankyu/Hanshin Sannomiya stn. Top of Tor Road
Open: 11am–8pm, closed on the 8th.
TEL: 078 230 8707

The Essence of French Art
in the 19th Century

Thru July 19

Musée des beaux-arts de la Ville de Reims was founded in 1795 and with the support and donations from the government, was able to collect a large collection of art and artworks that included portraits by Cranach and works Guy Corot. From this collection the museum will exhibit about 80 works focused mostly on French paintings in the 19th century.

The modern paintings in the museum mainly consist of the donations from Henri Vasnier (1832-1907), who managed a champagne company in Reims. This 600 piece collection conveys important trends in French paintings of the 19th century and reflects the taste of art lovers and situations of the art world in his own age at the same time.

In addition to these paintings, there will be an arts and crafts exhibition by Emile Gallé, ceramics and photos from the collection of Jeanne-Alexandrine Pommery (1819-1890).

Nara Museum of Art
Kintetsu Nara Stn., Exit#1 / JR Nara, bus to Kenchomae Stop
Open: 9am–4:30pm, closed Mondays • Admission: ¥1000/¥700/¥400 TEL: 0742-23-3968

Fashion in Colors
— Viktor & Rolf & KCI in Kyoto

Thru June 20

The KCI focuses on colors in the fashion history. The color is one of the most important elements for fashion as well. It reflects not only an individual taste but also the spirit, societies and cultures of the time. Basic exhibits (over 80 items) will be selected from numerous collections of KCI fashion collection.

The exhibition will be represented as a kind of re-construction, re-interpretation of KCI's Fashion collection along with interdisciplinary studies about Fashion in colors by several outstanding scholars. The Key of this exhibition is the collaboration of Viktor & Rolf, one of the most avant-garde and conceptual fashion design units of our time. Viktor & Rolf will play an important role in selecting and placing the exhibits in their original interpretation of fashion history.

Viktor Horsting (1969) and Rolf Snoeren (1969) together form the Dutch designing duo Viktor & Rolf. They have been presenting their haute couture collection in Paris from 1998 to present; their prêt-à-porter collection has been presented in Paris from 2000 to present. Viktor & Rolf are attracting attention not only from the fashion world but also from the contemporary art world by their unique and artistic presentations, and they play an active part as the guest curator of "Fashion in Colors: Viktor &Rolf &KCI".

The National Museum of Modern Art Kyoto
Keihan Shichijo stn. Okazaki Park
Open: 9:30am–4pm, closed Mondays
Admission: ¥1000/¥600/¥400 TEL:: 075-761-4111

Edo to Meiji-period Studies of Ancient Objects through Illustrations

Thru June 27

Before the prevalence of photography, illustrations and rubbings of objects excavated from tumuli and treasures found in temples were commonly made during the late Edo (1616-1867) to Meiji (1868-1912) periods. This exhibit surveys these early records of artworks and artifacts.

Kyoto National Museum
Keihan Shichijo Stn.
Open: 9:30am – 5pm closed Mondays • Admission: ¥1200/¥800/¥400
TEL: 075-541-1151

Kansai Art Listings

ART section compiled by Maki Nibayashi