Co-organized by the Japan Foundation, Consulate-General of Japan and Hong Kong Arts Centre, the touring exhibition showcases Japanese graphic arts and contemporary arts’ interpretation of the Sharaku ukiyo-e paintings and has toured many places including various cities in China, the USA, Netherlands, Greece and Singapore. About 80 portraits and installations by 39 Japanese contemporary artists, including Tadanori Yokoo, Takashi Murakami and Koichi Sato, will be showcased to show the embodiment of their reinterpretations of Sharaku from contemporary viewpoints. In addition to the tribute to Sharaku, the showcase aims at guiding the audience to understand this contemporary reinterpretation as a collaboration across temporal boundaries, connecting the past and present of Japanese art.

This exhibition explores the connections between ukiyo-e and the graphic design of Japan, the differences between the approaches used in graphic design and contemporary art, as well as the diversity of today's artistic expression that cannot be simply grouped under the single heading of "contemporary art."

Image: © Yasumasa Morimura