Colorado based art collectors John and Kimiko Powers are eminent among world collectors of both Japanese and contemporary art. They have contributed greatly to the art scene, particularly through their patronage and collecting of American Pop Art from its early stages in the 1960s. Having been drawn to Pop Art before it was widely acknowledged, and supporting artists at that time, John and Kimiko Powers built up what is today considered one of the world's largest and most comprehensive private collections of Pop Art. After John Powers died in 1999, Kimiko Powers went on with their activities and in 2011 opened the Powers Art Center, dedicated to the study, display, and dissemination of prints by Jasper Johns.

The John and Kimiko Powers Collection includes one of Andy Warhol's most important paintings, 200 Campbell's Soup Cans, as well as representative works by American Pop Art icons Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, Tom Wesselmann, and by their precursors Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. There has, however, never been an opportunity to exhibit the entire Pop Art collection, even on its home ground in the United States.

It is generally agreed that American Pop Art is rooted in and is a response to elements of our contemporary culture, from the 1960s to the present, that go beyond the boundaries of art. In Japan, there have been only very few exhibitions introducing prime examples of 1960s Pop Art. The American Pop Art exhibition project originates in the deep desire on the part of Japanese organaizers, along with Kimiko Powers, to introduce the appeal of Pop Art to Japan. The exhibition presents the long awaited opportunity to experience these exciting works by Andy Warhol and other major figures of Pop Art.

Artists: Robert RAUSCHENBERG, Jasper JOHNS, Claes OLDENBURG, Andy WARHOL,
Roy LICHTENSTEIN, Tom WESSELMANN, Mel RAMOS, James ROSENQUIST

*image (left)
photographed by Hiroyasu Sakaguchi
© 2013 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc / ARS. N.Y
/ JASPAR, Tokyo E0434

Courtesy of The National Art Center