Press Release 2019/03/07

Y’S from the Hara Museum Collection
March 9 (Saturday) – June 30 (Sunday), 2019
Galleries A, B and C (Contemporary Art)
Since ancient times, artists have constantly sought out new avenues of exploration and challenges through which
they developed their own unique styles of expression. In this exhibition, we invite you to explore large-scale
artworks from the Hara Museum Collection by artists whose last name begins with the letter "Y" centering on
Tadanori Yokoo (5 works) and Miwa Yanagi (8 works) who led the art scene in Japan during the Showa andHeisei eras.
[1] Tadanori Yokoo, Who Shall Forget about Homeland?, 2001
In the background of this painting is a nebula floating within a deep blue spacereminiscent of the universe. A number of lying figures peer at it as if with asense of nostalgia, and over it all is the viewer who watches with a bird’s eye
view. The figures lying on their sides with their heads resting on their hands
look like reclining Buddhas in poses ranging from relaxed to seductive. ForYokoo they are part of a recurring theme of duality: life and death, sacred andprofane, man and woman.

[1] ⓒTadanori Yokoo[2] Tadanori Yokoo, Post War, 1985
This work on ceramic was made for Tokyo: Form And Spirit, anexhibition organized by the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) in 1986
which traveled to various venues in North America. It consists ofseven ceramic plates on which Yokoo depicts motifs from Japanese
history ranging from the Edo period to the near future. Superimposedover scenes of a Tokyo devastated by fire bombing at the end of[2] Installation view at Hara Museum ARC, 2017
the Pacific War are the faces of singers shining rays of hope into theⓒTadanori Yokoo Photo by Shinya Kigurehearts of Japanese (including Hibari Misora singing the song Tokyo Kid).
Yokoo used advanced techniques to silkscreen images onto large, smooth ceramic plates, a new approach
adopted by the artist to represent the bright and dark sides of the era.
The display and frame for this work at the time of the Tokyo: Form And Spirit exhibition were conceived by Arata
Isozaki, the architect responsible for the design of Hara Museum ARC. Both frame and display have been
reproduced here under the supervision of Isozaki and Yokoo.
Tadanori YokooBorn in Nishiwaki, Hyogo prefecture in 1936, Yokoo worked as a graphic designer and won the Grand Prize in thePrint Division of the Paris Youth Biennale Exhibition in 1969. He has held solo exhibitions at major museums inJapan and abroad, including Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA) (1972). Upon viewing a Picasso exhibitionat the MoMA in 1980, he became intrigued with the artist's way of life and made his famous "painter declaration".
His creative activities over the years have encompassed painting, design, photography, novels and essays,and his
many awards include the Mainichi Art Award, the Medal with Purple Robbon and the Praemium Imperiale Award.
His exhibition DNF Anya Kouro was held at the Hara Museum in 2001. In 2019, he was in charge of title and poster
design for the NHK Taiga Drama (period drama) “Idaten”.

[3] Miwa Yanagi, My Grandmothers: AI, 2003
In her My Grandmothers series of works, Yanagi recruited 20
women from the general public and asked them to imagine how
they would be 50 years later. She then had the women to model
their own vision of themselves while engaging them inconversation. Each portrait that was created was thenaccompanied by a description of the scene.
The work AI features an elderly woman reading the fortunes ofchildren. As she reads their fortunes, she is saddened by
mediocre futures in store for them, even as she awaits theappearance of a girl who would someday become hersuccessor.

[3] © Miwa Yanagi

Miwa Yanagi
Born in Kobe City, Hyogo prefecture, Yanagi completed the graduate course at the Kyoto City University of Arts.
Since her first solo exhibition in Kyoto in 1993, she has held solo exhibitions in Japan and abroad at such venues
as the Deutsche Guggenheim Museum in Berlin (2004). Her solo show was featured in the Japan Pavilion at the53rd Venice Biennale (2009). In her solo exhibition at the Hara Museum The Incredible Tale of the Innocent Old
Lady and the Heartless Young Girl (2005), she introduced a series of works that took as its theme fairy tales
featuring young girls and old women. More recently, she has been involved with a great number of theatrical
productions. She is currently a professor at the Kyoto University of Art and Design.

[4] Takeo Yamaguchi, Form, 1952
[5] Tomoko Yoneda, Hesse's Glasses - Viewing aphotograph of a soldier, 1998 ©Tomoko Yoneda[4][5]Featured Artists (approx. 30 works by 8 artists)
Miwa Yanagi, Yukinori Yanagi, Takeo Yamaguchi, Tadasu Yamamoto, Go Yanagi, Tadanori Yokoo, Katsuro Yoshida,
Tomoko Yoneda
Long-term Exhibits
Yayoi Kusama, Tabaimo
Hara Museum ARC (Gunma)
Hara Museum ARC opened in 1988 in Shibukawa, Gunma prefecture asan annex to the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo (see box onthe last page). Situated in the foothills of the Mt. Haruna, one of the socalled Jomosanzan or "Three Peaks of Jomo" (the old name of Gunma),
the museum's large-scale wooden buildings with their sleek black exteriors(designed by Arata Isozaki) stand in stark contrast to rich greens of thesurrounding highland scenery. In addition to exhibitions centered on theJean-Michel Othoniel, Kokoro, 2009
museum's permanent collection, Hara Museum ARC holds events,
Photography: Yuichi Chiraku
workshops and various art education programs. In 2008, an Open-view
Storage and Kankai Pavilion were added as part of an expansion that has enabled Hara Museum ARC to serve asa capacious setting for art that transcends the boundaries of time and place.

Cherry Blossoms at Hara Museum ARC
Visitors to Hara Museum ARC during the Golden Week holidays (midApril to the beginning of May) can expect to enjoy the beautiful blossomsof a variety of cherry trees that grow on its expansive grounds 500 meters
above sea level at the foot of the Haruna Mountain Range. A great many
people are drawn to the museum at this time to enjoy the beautiful
contrast presented by the light pink petals against the dark tones of themuseum's buildings designed by Arata Isozaki. We hope you can comeand treat yourself to this spectacle of cherry blossoms, along with the many large-scale art installations scatteredover the wide expanse of the museum grounds.
Exhibition Details
Title: Y’S from the Hara Museum Collection
Dates: March 9 (Saturday) – June 30 (Sunday), 2019
Venue: Gallery A, B and C at Hara Museum ARC
2855-1 Kanai, Shibukawa-shi, Gunma 377-0027 Tel 0279-24-6585
Fax 0279-24-0449
E-mail arc@haramuseum.or.jp https://www.haramuseum.or.jp (officialwebsite) https://twitter.com/HaraMuseumARC (Twitter)
Hours: 9:30 am - 4:30 pm (last entry at 4:00 pm)
Closed: Thursdays (except March 21 and May 2) *Subject totemporary closure in the event of severe weather.
Admission: General 1,100 yen, Students 700 yen (high school and university) or 500 yen (elementary and juniorhigh), Free for Hara Museum members, 10% discount for a group of 20 or more, Combination ticket for HaraMuseum ARC and Ikaho Green Bokujo (except during Golden Week): General 1,800 yen; Students 1,500 yen(high school and university) or 1,400 yen (junior high), 800 yen (elementary), half price for those over 70, discountfor groups of 20 or more
Directions: By train: Take the Joetsu Shinkansen to Takasaki, change to the Joestu Line, and disembark atShibukawa. From Shibukawa, ARC is 10 minutes away by taxi or 15 minutes by bus (take the Ikaho Onsen busto ″Green Bokujo Mae″). By car: 8 kilometers (about 15 minutes) from the Kan-etsu Expressway Shibukawa Ikaho
Interchange (in the direction of Ikaho Onsen).
Related Event:
Meet the Artist: Tadanori Yokoo *The event will be given in by Japanese. Please check our website for details.
Upcoming Exhibition
Izumi Kato – LIKE A ROLLING SNOWBALL
Hara Museum ARC (Gunma): July 13, 2019 – January 13, 2020
Hara Museum (Tokyo): August 10, 2019 – January 13, 2020

Izumi Kato, Untitled, 2006
ⓒIzumi Kato

Izumi Kato is known as a creator of powerful and mysterious sculptures with a primitivistic air.
Initially a painter, Kato soon expanded his oeuvre to encompass wooden sculptures anddynamic installations that incorporate stone, cloth and a wide range of other materials. He isa frequent exhibitor at venues in Europe, the United States, and Asia, including the 2007 Venice Biennale. Theexhibition at the Hara Museum, Kato’s first solo show at the art museum in Tokyo, will include new paintings andsculptures, while Hara Museum ARC will present a retrospective of the artist’s works that include never-beforeshown items from the Kato’s own collection. Together, these shows promise to provide a broad overview of Kato’s
artistic vision.
Press Enquiries: T. 81.279.24.6585 E. press@haramuseum.or.jp