Yasumasa Morimura at Luring Augustine Gallery

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From Marilyn Monroe to Marlene Dietrich, Yasumasa Morimura mimics the iconic looks of famous figures in the series ‘100 M’s Self-Portraits,’ now on view at Luhring Augustine’s Tribeca gallery space.  Having made a name for himself in the ‘80s through to the present day via vividly colored photos that depict his reenactments of famous artworks with himself dressed as the main character (he started as Van Gogh with a bandaged ear), the now 72-year-old photographer opted for smaller format black and white images to create his 100 piece portrait series from the 1993-2000.  Here, he takes his version of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s into the subway, having his audience watch a passerby react as we also consider the implications of his race and gender transgressing role play. (On view in Tribeca through Oct 21st).

Yasumasa Morimura, one image from ‘Once Hundred M’s self-portraits, 100 gelatin silver photographs, each 13 ¾ x 11 inches, 1993-2000.

Tetsuya Ishida at Gagosian Gallery

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Workers are expendable in the alienated world depicted by Japanese artist Tetsuya Ishida in the late artist’s paintings at Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea.  Coming into adulthood in the Japan’s economic depression in the ‘90s, known as the country’s ‘Lost Decade,’ Ishida catalogued the dehumanizing effect of corporate culture in images that depict workers taking in food from nozzles as if in a gas station or emerging from train doors in the form of boxes with heads, ready for delivery and consumption.  Here, in ‘Exercise Equipment,’ a worried looking individual with Ishida’s features runs not for the health benefits, but to keep ahead of the workers poised to yank him from the treadmill.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 21st).

Tetsuya Ishida, Exercise Equipment, acrylic on board, 1997.

Mika Horibuchi at 55 Walker

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Betrayal and concealment are words applied to Mika Horibuchi’s deceptively masterful paintings at 55 Walker, which replicate her grandmother’s amateur watercolors.  At first glance, triangular tabs appear to be adhered to the surface to hold up a printed photo.  A closer look reveals that they, like the ‘photo,’ are meticulously painted.  The cat image is a rendition of a printed snapshot sent to the artist in Chicago by her grandmother in Japan, who has taken up painting later in life.  A nearby display case shows the original snapshots along with other photos, drawings, and more.  Here, the professional mimics the hobbyist, but the work conveys respect and consideration.  (On view in Tribeca through March 26th).

Mika Horibuchi, Watercolor of Pi-ko, oil on linen, 42 x 55 x 1 ¾ inches, 2021.

Fumika Koda at Sato Sakura Gallery

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Taking in stray cats changed young artist Fumika Koda’s painting career, focusing her practice on the feline subjects and driving her to find intimate ways to portray their habits and personalities, often in connection to the seasons.  Koda even aims to empower the cats, as she puts it, “…giving them their power back over the people who left them,” but it’s her evident respect for the cats’ beauty and intelligence that stands out.  (On view at Sato Sakura Gallery through March 28th).

Fumika Koda, Dreaming, mineral pigments, gelatin, silk, 10.7 x 10.7 inches, 2019.

Michiko Kon at Robert Mann Gallery

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Inspired by Surrealist Meret Oppenheim’s performance ‘Cannibal’s Feast,’ Japanese photographer Michiko Kon’s food-based sculptural creations from the 90s fascinate and disturb in equal measure.  This photo, currently on view at Robert Mann Gallery, showcases a boot crafted from ark clam shells and a real fish head.  By evoking luxury goods popular in pre-crash 90s Japan and creating them in perishable materials, Kon updates the vanitas genre for more recent times.  (On view through Oct 19th).

Michiko Kon, Ark Shells and Boot, platinum palladium print, 20 x 16 inches, 1996.

Risue Mishima at Luhring Augustine Gallery

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Japanese-Italian artist Ritsue Mishima describes glass as ‘a form of light.’ In her stunning show of twenty-five glass sculptures at Luhring Augustine Gallery – her first in New York – Mishima creates dynamic and still forms that bring to mind sea life and other natural wonders.  (On view through Oct 26th in Chelsea).

Ritsue Mishima, INCONSCIO, blown glass, 17 ½ x 16 ½ x 11 7/8 inches, 2019.

Satoshi Kojima at Bridget Donahue Gallery

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Satoshi Kojima’s pastel-colored dreamscapes feature a few enigmatic characters engaging in mysterious rituals. Here, two dapper yet sinisterly blank-eyed men either wave goodbye or set out to stop any trains that might roll into a platform that looks like a stage. (On view at Bridget Donahue Gallery on the Lower East Side through Aug 4th).

Satoshi Kojima, Last Dance, oil on canvas, 70.875 x 86.625 inches, 2016.

Ori Gersht, Floating Bridge at CRG Gallery

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A landscape is never just a beautiful view in Ori Gersht’s photographs. A past series pictured tranquil scenes not far from a former concentration camp; the more recent ‘Floating World’ images – shot in Kyoto’s formal gardens – play up the multi-layered meanings of meticulously planned spaces like this one by combining reflected and inverted images. (At CRG Gallery on the Lower East Side through May 21st).

Ori Gersht, Floating Bridge, archival ink print, 47 ¾ x 47 ¾ inches, 2016.

Yoshitomo Nara, Thinker at Pace Gallery

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Though Yoshitomo Nara’s new work at Pace Gallery is based on traditional Japanese vessel forms, the new ceramic works continue Nara’s practice of tapping into contemporary youth cultures. Whether disaffected or conformist, Nara’s young characters are less the free spirits they normally are; as portly jugs, they come across as more contained.   (At Pace Gallery’s 25th Street location through April 29th).

Yoshitomo Nara, installation view of ‘Thinker’ at Pace Gallery, April 2017.

Sohei Nishino at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery

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Sohei Nishino’s charmingly idiosyncratic maps of cities around the world track the Japanese globetrotter’s exploration of metropolitan architecture and populations. Each bricolage results from hundreds of images shot at various vantage points around a given city. In this detail from Nishino’s New Delhi diorama map, the crowds and traffic encroach on the India Gate war memorial, though it retains a space and aura of its own. (At Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea through March 4th).

Sohei Nishino, Diorama Map New Delhi, light jet print on Kodak Endura, 70.87 x 79.53 inches, 2013.
Sohei Nishino, Diorama Map New Delhi, light jet print on Kodak Endura, 70.87 x 79.53 inches, 2013.

Masakatsu Sashie at Jonathan LeVine Gallery

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Whether they hover over desolate wastelands piled with junk or barren city streets, Masakatsu Sashie’s floating spheres add another ominous note to already bleak, futuristic landscapes. Composed of old machines or cobbled together from an assortment of panels and featuring text that appears to be ads, the orbs grimly foretell a post-human world. (At Jonathan LeVine Gallery through Nov 12th).

Masakatsu Sashie, Invisible Rule, oil on canvas, 35 1/8 x 57 ¼ inches, 2016.
Masakatsu Sashie, Invisible Rule, oil on canvas, 35 1/8 x 57 ¼ inches, 2016.

Nendo: 50 Manga Chairs at Friedman Benda Gallery

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Does your furniture say something about your personality? Japanese design group Nendo goes a step further, suggesting that chairs themselves have personality, as demonstrated by fifty stainless steel seats. All were inspired by manga and intended to convey mood or attitude. Enhanced by swirling projections on the gallery walls, the chair in the foreground looks like it’s just arrived from another dimension, eager to please. (At Chelsea’s Friedman Benda through Oct 29th).

Nendo: 50 Manga Chairs, installation view, Friedman Benda, Sept 2016.
Nendo: 50 Manga Chairs, installation view, Friedman Benda, Sept 2016.

Hiroshi Watanabe at Benrubi Gallery

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We are like characters in a disaster movie, writes photographer Hiroshi Watanabe – though terrible events loom, we carry on with life as usual. Here, snow-covered persimmons make for a beautiful image but one that warns of a fast-arriving, harsher season. (At Chelsea’s Benrubi Gallery through Aug 26th).

Hiroshi Watanabe, The Day the Dam Collapses 25 (Persimmons), archival pigment print, 9 x 9 inches, 2009.
Hiroshi Watanabe, The Day the Dam Collapses 25 (Persimmons), archival pigment print, 9 x 9 inches, 2009.

Keiichi Tanaami at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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Above a barely noticeable landscape of frothing waves and neon-colored bridges, a strange assortment of alien characters array themselves like a contemporary, psychedelic thangka in Keiichi Tanaami’s ‘Vision in the Womb.’ The Japanese icon blends eroticism and the lingering terror of Tokyo’s firebombing in a hallucinatory scene that stuns in its creative profusion. (At Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co through April 23rd).

Keiichi Tanaami, Vision in the Womb, acrlic paint, digital pigment print, silkscreen print, glass powder on canvas, 80.125 x 118.125 inches, 2015.
Keiichi Tanaami, Vision in the Womb, acrlic paint, digital pigment print, silkscreen print, glass powder on canvas, 80.125 x 118.125 inches, 2015.

Teppei Kaneuji at Jane Lombard Gallery

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Originally inspired by a coffee stain on paper, Kyoto-based artist Teppei Kaneuji elaborated on this Dagwood-esque sandwich to the point of amusing absurdity. Here he combines pieces of wood and plastic food in a mix of ‘natural’ and ‘fake’ that conveys the fun of stacking blocks and the specter of excess calorie consumption. (At Jane Lombard Gallery through Oct 17th).

Teppei Kaneuji, Muddy Stream from a Mug (Sandwich), coffee, paper, wood, plastic objects, urethane resin, 19 ½ x 12 x 10 inches, 2015.

Lee Ufan at Pace Gallery

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Lee Ufan continues his decades-long practice of bringing basic natural and man-made materials into new relationships with the viewer with his latest work at Chelsea’s Pace Gallery. Here (foreground), a piece subtitled ‘the cane of titan’ draws mythical Greek giants into the mix, proposing that we’ve stumbled upon an astonishing yet casually placed artifact. (Through June 27th).

Lee Ufan, Relatum – the cane of titan, steel and stone, 2015.

Yayoi Kusama, The Obliteration Room at David Zwirner Gallery

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When Japanese pop art icon Yayoi Kusama last showed at David Zwirner Gallery, audiences waited on line for hours to enter a mirrored chamber. Two years later, the octogenarian artist is reviving another crowd pleaser, a version of her 2002 ‘obliteration room,’ in the form of a mini-suburban home that viewers will cover with stickers supplied by the gallery. (In Chelsea through June 13th).

Yayoi Kusama, installation view of ‘The obliteration room,’ furniture, white paint, dot stickers, dimensions variable, 2002 – present.

Tomoko Sawada at Pace MacGill

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How much uniqueness is possible in uniform, corporate culture? Japanese artist Tomoko Sawada makes herself surprisingly malleable in photos that mimic job application ID photos. The master of disguise works wonders within narrow parameters…which one would you hire? (At Pace MacGill on 57th Street through April 25th).

Tomoko Sawada, Recruit/Grey, one hundred chromogenic prints hinged to board each image and paper, 2 x 1 5/8 inches mount, 27 3/8 x 23 ½ inches, 2006.

Takashi Murakami at Gagosian Gallery

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Hands down, one of the hottest shows of the season in Chelsea is Takashi Murakami’s current solo at Gagosian Gallery, featuring towering demons guarding an ancient Japanese sacred gate crafted by Japanese artisans. After Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Murakami watched the nation turn to things spiritual…with this show, he makes a response by offering up his own quasi-religion. (Through Jan 17th).

Installation view of Takashi Murakami’s ‘In the Land of the Dead, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow,’ Gagosian Gallery, Nov 2014.

‘Duality of Existence – Post-Fukushima’ at Friedman Benda

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Friedman Benda’s summer group exhibition, featuring contemporary Japanese art seen through a post-Fukushima Daiichi lens includes traditional architecture upended and mirrored by Takahiro Iwasaki and a mind-bending interactive installation by Kazuki Umezawa for which looking into an iPad at a digital print produces surprising results. (In Chelsea through August 8th).

Foreground: Takahiro Iwasaki, Reflection Models, wood, monofilament, 2014. Background: Kazuki Umezawa, AR image core involving all, digital print on tarpaulin sheet, 2 iPads, 2013.

Motonaga Sadamasa in Gutai: Splendid Playground at the Guggenheim Museum

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Originally displayed in an outdoor exhibition by the avant-garde Gutai Art Association in 1956, a recreation of Mononaga Sadamasa’s ‘Work (Water)’ in polyethylene tubes filled with ink-colored water stretches across the Guggenheim Museum’s atrium to create elegant, hammock-like cradles for a valuable natural resource.  

Motonaga Sadamasa, ‘Work (Water)’ installation view at the Guggenheim, ’56 (original), 2011.