Nagakura Kenichi (1952-2018), Stardust, 2003, madake bamboo and mixed media, 17.5 x 19 x 16 in.

Nagakura Kenichi: A Retrospective
June 28 – July 20, 2024
Opening Reception: Friday, June 28 from 5-7pm
1601 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501

TAI Modern is honored to open the retrospective exhibit of acclaimed bamboo artist Nagakura Kenichi (1952-2018) this summer.

Nagakura visited Santa Fe every other year for nearly two decades, meeting art lovers and collectors at the openings for his nine solo shows at TAI Modern. He and his wife Kayoko made many friends in the process. His tenth solo show would have opened in the summer of 2018 if not for his untimely death that year. Since then, TAI Modern has looked forward to mounting a retrospective exhibition to honor Nagakura’s creative genius, and to also, in a sense, bring him back to his friends in Santa Fe. This June, they can finally give him his tenth solo exhibition.

Nagakura lived a life of profound experimentation, incorporating unconventional materials like bamboo roots, washi paper, and driftwood collected from local shores on daily walks, as well as inventing new techniques that evoked the patina and texture of centuries-old bamboo, bronze, rock, wood, cloth and natural phenomena like nests, webs, and cocoons. First and foremost, he was an artist, and it was through his connection to bamboo that he could express that creative drive.

Showing with TAI Modern since the very start of the gallery’s focus on Japanese bamboo in 1997, Nagakura was the first recipient of the Cotsen Bamboo Prize in 2000 and exhibited internationally throughout his career. This retrospective marks the first time that Nagakura’s paintings will be exhibited to the public.

To view the online exhibition catalog, click here.

To learn more about the exhibit, click here.

Koie Ryōji (1938-2020), (L) Oribe-glazed “collared,” slumped, columnar vase, 1998, glazed stoneware, 9 x 9 1/2 x 6 3/4 in; (R) Oribe-glazed “collared,” slumped, columnar vase, 1998, glazed stoneware, 7 3/4 x 9 1/4 x 6 1/2 in.

Hagi and Oribe: Redefining Tradition
June 26 – August 23, 2024

Joan B Mirviss LTD shines in this week’s Gallery Spotlight. With more than forty-five years of experience, Joan B. Mirviss is a pillar in the field of Japanese art. As a dealer, scholar, curator, and advisor, she has been the driving force championing the top Japanese clay artists, who she represents exclusively, and whose works she has placed in major museums around the globe. Widely published as a highly respected expert, Mirviss has built many institutional and private collections of Japanese art. Her namesake gallery exhibits modern and contemporary Japanese ceramics, ukiyo-e, and Japanese paintings from its exclusive Madison Avenue location in New York City.

This summer, the gallery is excited to present their new exhibition focusing on a small selection of recent and current masters of Hagi and Oribe wares, traditions that originated during the first golden age of Japanese ceramics, the Momoyama era (1573-1615).

Created in a small town on the Japan Sea in western Honshu, the monochromatic aesthetics of Hagi were derived from Korean traditions learned from potters brought to Japan. Oribe, on the other hand, is completely a Japanese invention that favored bright asymmetrical patterning and brilliant green coloring. It was developed in central Japan in the Mino region. The elegant simplicity of form coupled with the unctuous white Hagi glaze or the deep black or green vibrancy of Oribe have made these ceramic wares popular for use in tea ceremony for centuries. But it was not until after the Meiji restoration, in the late nineteenth century, that both Hagi and Oribe-glazed works were produced for and reached a broader audience in Japan and the newly opened international export market.

They invite you to visit this focused exhibition on view at their gallery throughout the summer!

To preview the works and read their online exhibition catalog, click here.

Courtesy China Institute

Shan Shui Reboot: Re-envisioning Landscape for a Changing World
Closing Ceremony
Thursday, June 27 from 7:30-10pm
Complimentary Entry

Join China Institute’s closing ceremony of Shan Shui Reboot: Re-envisioning Landscape for a Changing World with a panel discussion with artist Kelly Wang, as she discusses her inspiration, artistic process and deeper meanings behind her works showcased at the exhibition.

Following this insightful discussion, enjoy a captivating musical performance by the Summer Breeze Chinese Jazz Fusion Ensemble.

To RSVP, please contact Lorna Lim, Senior Manager of Special Events and Membership at [email protected]

To learn more, click here.

Courtesy Alisan Fine Arts

Themes and Variations
June 27 – August 23, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 27th from 6-8pm
Second Reception: Thursday, August 1st from 6-8pm

Alisan Fine Arts is pleased to present Themes and Variations featuring the work of 15 artists who explore the use of Chinese Ink within their practice. The exhibition includes work by Hung Fai, Hung Keung, Lee Chunyi, Lin Guocheng, Lok Yitong, Ren Light Pan, Tai Xiangzhou, Wesley Tongson, Wang Mengsha, Wang Tiande, Wai Pongyu, Wei Ligang, Zhang Xiaoli, Zhang Yirong, and Zheng Chongbin.

Divided into three themes: Signs and Symbols, Spiritual Landscapes and Poetry and Painting, this group show celebrates how each of these artists incorporates longstanding traditional subjects in Chinese art and push these concepts further in their own visual way.

Themes and Variations will be shown in two rotations, with the first on view from June 27th – July 31st, and the second from August 1st – 23rd. Alisan Fine Arts looks forward to welcoming you to their opening receptions on June 27th and August 1st, from 6-8pm.

To learn more, click here.

Courtesy Heritage Auctions 

Heritage Auctions Signature® Auction #8151
Japanese Woodblock Prints from The Nelkin Collection Part I
Viewing: June 24-26, 10am-5pm CT (by appointment only)
Live Auction: June 27 at 10am CT
2801 W. Airport Freeway
Dallas, TX 75261

Heritage Auctions are pleased to be entrusted with the estate of Ruth S. Nelkin, an esteemed collector of Japanese woodblock prints. Already this year, they presented various parts of Nelkin’s gracious collection in a handful of significant auctions and are excited to feature the upcoming sale, Japanese Woodblock Prints from The Nelkin Collection Part I Signature^® Auction, ending next Thursday, June 27th.  It features nearly 250 remarkable classic and modern Japanese prints by such masters of the form as Katsushika Hokusai, Takahashi Hiroaki, Yoshida Hiroshi and more.

“The Nelkins’ varied possessions had one common denominator: quality,” says Nick Dawes, Heritage’s Senior Vice President of Special Collections. “Ruth Nelkin sought and found items of the highest caliber in every category. Above all, however, was her passion for ukiyo-e, the Japanese art of woodblock printmaking. Ruth Nelkin safeguarded these treasures during her lifetime, and now other collectors will have the opportunity to benefit from her connoisseurship.”

During the week of July 29-August 2, other highlights from The Nelkin Collection will be exhibited at their newly expanded New York gallery. Stayed tuned for details about this special exhibition.

To view the lots, click here.

To read more about this remarkable collection, click here.

Courtesy Korean Cultural Center New York

Jinhee Lee: Boundaries of Existence
June 25 – August 17, 2024
Artist Talk: Tuesday, June 25th, 5-6pm 
Opening Reception: Tuesday, June 25th, 6-8pm
122 East 32nd St, 1st & 2nd Fl, NYC

The Korean Cultural Center New York is pleased to host the exhibition Boundaries of Existence by Jinhee Lee, professor in the Department of Stage Design at the Korea National University of Arts and award-winning costume designer of films and Korean dramas.

This exhibition focuses on Korean handicrafts and the colors of her sculptural works, combining various media to express depth and dynamism. It aims to highlight the boundaries that suppress taboos, norms, and nature in conventional society and to draw attention to segmented elements. The act of ‘crafting’ serves as a crucial expressive method embodying the artist’s philosophy, symbolizing the connection and healing of fragmented, broken, and damaged elements in sculptural forms.

Known as The Grand Master of K-DRAMA in Traditional Costume, Jinhee Lee has been creating costumes and sculptural works based on stage art. She is a highly acclaimed costume designer known for her work on numerous theater plays, movies, and Korean dramas such as “My Dearest,” “Love in Moonlight,” and “Sungkyunkwan Scandal.” She received the Best Costume Award for “Ansisung” at the prestigious Dae Jong Film Awards.

Join the Korean Cultural Center next week for a special talk with the artist followed by the exhibition opening reception.

To RSVP and learn more, click here.

Installation view, The Mountains Show and Hide: Color in the Landscape Paintings of Arnold Chang, Courtesy Fu Qiumeng Fine Art

The Mountains Show and Hide: Color in the Landscape Paintings of Arnold Chang
Closing Saturday, June 22, 2024
65 East 80th St, Ground Floor, NYC

There’s still time to view this first solo exhibition of Arnold Chang (張洪) in New York since 1996 at Fu Qiumeng Fine Art before it closes this Saturday.

While Chang in his fifty-year career as an artist has painted ink landscapes in the traditional Chinese literati manner, this exhibition, showcasing Chang’s landscape paintings of the past ten years, marks his newly developed approach of seamlessly integrating color into his personal vision of landscape. In contrast to most classical Chinese literati paintings, where color was often an afterthought that followed the forms realized through ink lines and washes, Chang treats ink lines and flat color washes as separate components.

The exhibition is curated by Joy Xiao Chen, Ph.D. candidate in Art History at the University of California, Los Angeles and the former Sylvan C. Coleman and Pam Coleman Memorial Fund Fellow in the Department of Asian Art from 2021 to 2023 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

To read the full exhibition essay and learn more, click here.

Installation view, Light, Space and Time, Courtesy Alisan Fine Arts

Light, Space and Time
Closing Friday, June 21, 2024

Be sure to view Light, Space and Time, a group exhibition featuring the work of California-based Asian American visual artists Julie W Chang, Summer Mei-Ling Lee and Zhang Jian-Jun before the show closes this Friday at Alisan Fine Arts.

Influenced by the Californian coast and the Light and Space movement, Chang, Lee and Zhang approach light and space through a different lens and additional dimension. Informed by historical-cultural perspectives, their practices add a “time” element to the works in the exhibition.

The particular light of the California coast has long informed the work of artists living and working on the West coast of the U.S., most notably in the atmospheric works by artists associated with the Light and Space movement (1950-1970). Artists who were part of this movement—including Robert Irwin, James Turrell and Larry Bell—typically created minimalist art that was concerned with how geometric shapes and the use of light could affect the environment and perception. By adding in time—through the weaving and layering of historical and contemporary cultural symbols and exploring personal histories and the natural world—these three artists in Light, Space and Time are creating work that is also concerned with how the personal and historical affect the environment and our perception.

To learn more, click here.

RELATED EVENT:

Artist Talk: Christy Chan
Thursday, June 20, 2024
6-8pm (Program will begin at 6:30)
120 East 65th Street, NYC

Alisan Fine Arts is also excited to host a special screening and artist talk by Christy Chan who will  speak about her recent and upcoming projects on June 20th.

Christy Chan received the Creative Capital Award in 2024, and is a 2022 Guggenheim Fellow in Visual Art. She creates public art projects that question the everyday power structures that uphold white supremacy in the United States. Using a combination of video, projection art, installation, performance, object design, and social practice, her projects are often participatory, city-wide platforms that aim to draw citizens from under-represented communities together to speak their truths.

Contact [email protected] for more information or with any enquiries.

Installation view, Layered Clay, Courtesy Joan B Mirviss LTD

Layered Clay
Closing Friday, June 21, 2024
39 East 78th St, Suite 401, NYC

These are the last days to view Layered Clay at Joan B Mirviss LTD before it closes this Friday. The aesthetic effect of layering clay has long fascinated and delighted people across cultures, from England to China, but arguably reached its pinnacle in modern-day Japan. The exhibition celebrates the extraordinary achievements of three past masters who revitalized this ancient technique and creatively expanded the seemingly simple idea of building clay upon clay: Matsui Kōsei, Miyashita Zenji, and Ogata Kamio.

Their artistry was impossible to achieve without their equally astonishing technical skills. Developed steadily over time, with patience and experimentation, their deft manipulation of clay enabled them each in their own ways to achieve dazzling color contrasts, unexpected surface effects, and gradations of textures and colors that complemented their vessels’ forms. Many of their artworks have been acquired directly from the estates of the artists, with the blessings of their families, and are obviously fresh to the market. In addition, work by seven other Japanese ceramic artists who were contemporaries of, or successors to, their innovative legacies will be displayed in Layered Clay.

“Vibrantly colored layered clays are used to such an extent…that the conventional, narrow view of neriage has been shattered” said Hasebe Mitsuhiko former curator of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1990 when speaking of the layered clay works of modern-day Japanese ceramic artists. Their use of the painstaking technique of cutting, forming, and shaping layers of colored clay to form their visually mesmerizing ceramics has often been likened to creating three-dimensional mind games. This ancient technique, known as neriage or nerikomi originated in 8th century China, spread to Korea in the 12th century then to England in the 18th century before coming to its pinnacle in modern-day Japan.

Be sure to visit the show to experience these visually captivating pieces!

To view their online catalog and videos, click here.