May 16 – Sep 7
Tuesdays–Thursdays (10am–6pm)
Fridays (10am–8pm)
Saturdays–Sundays (10am–6pm)
Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan features 13 contemporary Japanese artists whose funny, evocative, and startling images penetrate Japanese cultural norms. Riffing on clichés like bonsai trees, manga, flower arrangement, and Tokyo's hyper modernity, the photographic works showcase a self-aware cynicism, vibrant humor, and willful disregard of social mores that could not have come from an older generation of Japanese artists. Standouts include Asako Narahashi, who photographs skyscrapers while standing chest-deep in ocean waves, and Yukio Nakagawa, whose suggestive sculptural ikebana flower arrangements have been shocking Japanese audiences since the '50s.
– Adda Birnir