Art Fair Tokyo - An art market in the making?

[nihonga]

Big cities like London, New York, Paris, and even Chicago and Berlin, all have art fairs, and art there is like an industry. The founder of Art Fair Tokyo wanted to have the same kind of art fair in Tokyo. They first tried in 1992, but maybe Japan just wasn't ready yet. So, in 2005 they relaunched the project. This year, it's shaping up to be bigger than ever.

Q: What is slowing the development of the contemporary market in Japan?

A: There is no historical connection with the past. In the Meiji and Taisho periods, people were still collecting and supporting artists. Then, sometime after World War II they forgot about it. But from the exhibition numbers, you can see that they (Japanese people) are still going to museums and love art.

Full Article: Interview With The Creators of Art Fair Tokyo

Art Fair Tokyo takes place from Tuesday, April 10, 2007 to Thursday April 12, 2007 at the Tokyo International Forum.

Official Site: Art Fair Tokyo

[Naidu]

Hi Nihonga
I'm an art collector and will be in Tokyo in May. Any recommendations on the galleries to visit to look and acquire?

[megmaggio]

Our experience as an exhibitor at ART TOKYO is that Japanese art lovers are not art buyers yet. I hope this changes really fast. There is so much great art in Japan and I hope it is collected by as many Japanese as foreigners! We are working with Japanese artists in Beijing. We are always looking for new, young talented Japanese artists. Please see our website, Pekin Fine Arts

Cheers,

Meg

M.Maggio
Director
Pekin Fine Arts
Pekin Fine Arts

Originally Posted by Naidu

Hi Nihonga
I'm an art collector and will be in Tokyo in May. Any recommendations on the galleries to visit to look and acquire?

[nihonga]

There is an article from Business Week on 101Tokyo 2008 that pretty much agrees with what Meg said - Japanese art fans are not necessarily Japanese art collectors.

Eye on Asia Tokyo Art Fair Revisited - BusinessWeek

There is also a nice report on the 101 Tokyo art fair, with a lot of pictures, at Ping Magazine:

Tokyo 101 Art Fair Review - PingMag

Maybe Art Fair Tokyo and 101Tokyo will help to create more Japanese art collectors in the future.

[ivyart]

motus fort is a good one it is on the hibiya train or the sobu line near akihabara.

[ivyart]

Why don't Japanese buy much art in Tokyo? Could it be that the works peddled are more provincial and seem to be either followers or mashing empty and predictable symbols together. Did any one think that Teppeuchi is fresh or just a mishmash of Petah Coyne and Roxy Payne with a few others for good measure. Chiba succeeded with some semi-interesting images of totems and backgrounds, but since his first ones there has been negligible growth nor has the totem-like items been used as anything more than a minor stand in for what???? Has he explored totems or iconic symbols? Has he looked at the landscape and questioned what each element, or its construction, or how we see, or look or even how humans expect anything of his very genres? The construction remains predictable- a gentle u-shaped horizon and foreground with tropical plants and a totem smack dab in the very center, or 2 to the sides. Tadahhhh! Or Satoshi Ohno who makes the same one-sided coin of his head, the alpine trees and their matching pointy Mountains with the grafitti marks in gold and the geometric circle hovering. The sculpture of the girl who seems only to work with cliched symbols of wolves sexy chicks, knives, deer, bugs impressed for 10 minutes, but upon reflection and the disappearance of the crowd's buzz and people gushing over it I ask the simple question, so what? What are those symbols adding up to, or is this just a new-fangled tchotchke for those with more money than brains? Sure it is fun, but for how long? Then there was the guy who took photos of flocks of birds and then tried to pin them down to music. Does any one wonder why most think Fluxus is bankrupt? There was the booth peddling shiny things that all looked pretty but then there was little that added up to anything. So many galleries that sell a broad range of wares made separating art from artifice. Adding to the confusion there was very little substance and a whole lot of distraction or denial. To ice the cake
Murakostabi's Art painting performance showed just how little art was there and how so much was only rote. 'Tis a pity, but this is why On Kawara, Nishi Tatzu, Sugimoto, Tadashi Kawamata, Satomi Shirai, et al. live overseas too. There is too much hype of chinatown level pictures and no discussion beyond kawaii or segoiiii, and going beyond that is harshly frowned upon. IF you don't believe this then ask lots of penetrating questions about the works you see this spring here in Tokyo.

[ivyart]

Why don't Japanese buy much art in Tokyo? Could it be that the works peddled are more provincial and seem to be either followers or mashing empty and predictable symbols together. Did any one think that Teppeuchi is fresh or just a mishmash of Petah Coyne and Roxy Payne with a few others for good measure. Chiba succeeded with some semi-interesting images of totems and backgrounds, but since his first ones there has been negligible growth nor has the totem-like items been used as anything more than a minor stand in for what???? Has he explored totems or iconic symbols? Has he looked at the landscape and questioned what each element, or its construction, or how we see, or look or even how humans expect anything of his very genres? The construction remains predictable- a gentle u-shaped horizon and foreground with tropical plants and a totem smack dab in the very center, or 2 to the sides. Tadahhhh! Or Satoshi Ohno who makes the same one-sided coin of his head, the alpine trees and their matching pointy Mountains with the grafitti marks in gold and the geometric circle hovering. The sculpture of the girl who seems only to work with cliched symbols of wolves sexy chicks, knives, deer, bugs impressed for 10 minutes, but upon reflection and the disappearance of the crowd's buzz and people gushing over it I ask the simple question, so what? What are those symbols adding up to, or is this just a new-fangled tchotchke for those with more money than brains? Sure it is fun, but for how long? Then there was the guy who took photos of flocks of birds and then tried to pin them down to music. Does any one wonder why most think Fluxus is bankrupt? There was the booth peddling shiny things that all looked pretty but then there was little that added up to anything. So many galleries that sell a broad range of wares made separating art from artifice. Adding to the confusion there was very little substance and a whole lot of distraction or denial. To ice the cake
Murakostabi's Art painting performance showed just how little art was there and how so much was only rote. 'Tis a pity, but this is why On Kawara, Nishi Tatzu, Sugimoto, Tadashi Kawamata, Satomi Shirai, et al. live overseas too. There is too much hype of chinatown level pictures and no discussion beyond kawaii or segoiiii, and going beyond that is harshly frowned upon. IF you don't believe this then ask lots of penetrating questions about the works you see this spring here in Tokyo.