Message
Message
It gives us great pleasure to present the Ueno Artist Project 2018: Contemporary SHO—See, Know and Feel Today’s Calligraphy exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. The Museum held a series of Tokyo SHO calligraphy exhibitions in cooperation with calligraphy public entry exhibition organizations from 2013-2016. This exhibition continues that process and theme and is the second of the Ueno Artist Project exhibitions that introduces contemporary calligraphy artists active in public entry exhibitions.
The calligraphy world continues to revere the study of the classics and the need for brushwork practice. On the other hand, calligraphy is developing as a medium, with some works pursuing a contemporary way of expression, while other large works are being created specifically for display in museum spaces. We hope that visitors to the exhibition will see, know and feel the richness of contemporary calligraphy and its wide embrace of expressive forms, including works that continue the classics while introducing a contemporary approach, and others that pose the question, what is calligraphy?
This exhibition presents works by six calligraphers, namely: Akiyama Kazuya (Kenshin Shodokai); Ohashi Hiroyuki (Kenshin Shodokai); Kanashiki Shinbo (Sogen Shodokai); Kikuyama Tsuyoshi (Sankei Kokusai Shokai); Suzuki Kyosen (Chobun Shokai) and Chiba Sogen (Shodo Geijutsuin). Their works reveal the great diversity and breadth developing in calligraphy today. Videos of artist interviews and of the artists producing their works will be presented alongside the displayed works.
Finally we would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to all those artists and collections who have lent their precious works for display, to all those involved with their respective groups, and to all those many individuals and organizations whose cooperation and efforts have contributed to the realization of this exhibition.
November 2018
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)