Since the early 1990s, Japan has endured an ongoing economic recession and a series of natural disasters, including devastating earthquakes and tsunami. Artists have responded by co-opting or critiquing rampant consumerism and exploring identity and memory. All the while, they maintain a deep skepticism as to what the future may hold. Some have embraced the fantasy worlds found in manga (comic books) and anime (animation) as a form of escape. Others have turned their attention to the mundane aspects of everyday life, often using found materials readily at hand to ground their work in lived experience.

 

This “In Focus” exhibition features works created after 2000, including loans and recent acquisitions by Kei Imazu, Chihiro Mori, Yasumasa Morimura, Takashi Murakami, Shinro Ohtake, as well as a Micropop Cinema screening of video work by Ryoko Aoki and Zon Ito, Taro Izumi, Chihiro Mori, and Koki Tanaka.