New Now Gallery presented contemporary Ukrainian art in Japan

05

June

2018

From 25 to 26 May 2018, the capital of Japan hosted Tokyo International Art Fair. This event united 88 art institutions – galleries, dealers, collectors and artists from all over the world (the USA, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, etc.). New Now Gallery, a foundation that promotes contemporary Ukrainian art on the world stage, presented four authors in Tokyo: Dmitriy Grek, Egor Zigura, Roman Minin and Oleg Tistol.

"Participation in the international art fair of one of the most economically developed countries in the world is a big step for our platform. However, cultural co-operation between our states is a separate page of Ukrainian-Japanese relations. We should expand interpersonal contacts, as each side has good intentions. For our part, we tried to present contemporary Ukrainian art and assimilate the experience of another nation," the founder of New Now Gallery, curator, art dealer Igor Abramovych commented.

Egor Zigura and Roman Minin shared their impressions of the international project and told about the culture of "Land of the Rising Sun".

– What works, in particular, yours, were presented at the fair? Why did you choose them?

E. Z. – Ukraine faced the world of contemporary art with the creativity of Dmitriy Grek, mine, as well as Roman Minin and Oleg Tistol. I chose two of my sculptures from the series "Aftertoday" – "Kore that Awakens" and "Colossus that Ruins".

R. M. – Presented were two of my paintings: "Reward for the Silence" and "Natural History". Most of them I divided into small fragments, and when I came to Tokyo I glued them, so to speak, back to the whole original composition. It was necessary to do so because when transporting works abroad there are often unexpected inconveniences. When I was packing my bags, it seemed to me that contemporary media and traditional clothing would be the best way to gain public attention. In the virtual reality, I invited viewers to visit the project "Temple of Mining" and sculpture park. People liked my approach, and we received positive reviews from visitors, there was a queue at our stand.

– What projects did you like and which did you remember?

R. M. – The project of Taschen, one of the most famous German publishing houses, that presented a magnificent album at Tokyo Art Fair: the most valuable frescoes of the Tibetan Buddhism heritage.

E. Z. – I liked the photos taken by Keiko Imadzumi: two photos conveyed the picturesqueness of Japanese landscapes. In addition, there were interesting conceptual projects of galleries from Poland and Russia.

– Did you manage to know Japanese culture better?

E. Z. – In fact, we had quite a little free time. Roma and I got great impressions from both ancient and contemporary buildings. Let's say as follows: it looks pretty colourful. We were lucky with the location of the fair – there were the sights of Tokyo nearby. Acquaintance with the Japanese culture began with the Museum of Mori. Its fund includes works by local and world artists, namely collections of sculptures, photographs and other works of art of 20^th-21^st centuries. I also had the opportunity to visit Tokyo Academy of Arts.

R. M. – It is felt a complete harmony, feng shui in this country, despite the accelerated, contemporary pace and style of life. I really wanted to visit sumo wrestler tournament, but unfortunately, it was impossible since tickets had been sold out long before.

– Did you manage to communicate with the representatives of the Japanese art arena? Do they know Ukrainian culture, Ukrainian art?

R. M. – There are a lot of independent bloggers in Japan, so information spreads very fast. It just stuns from the very first moments of your stay in the country. For example, at the airport, we were met by a team of journalists. Thus, Tokyo citizens were naturally interested in Ukrainian art in particular. However, it is obvious that they have the same interest in many other cultures. Now we only regret that we did not have enough time to integrate into their cultural space. At the fair where the representatives of the international community met, there was a positive atmosphere and we did not miss the opportunity to present not only our creativity but also the Ukrainian national colouring. We sold several works, so we can say that Japanese collectors saw the true Ukrainian art thanks to the efforts of New Now Gallery as well.

E. Z. –We also managed to visit the Ukrainian embassy in Tokyo. We arranged an exhibition in Tokyo next year which most likely would determine our further exhibition activity abroad. This is one of our strategies as to introducing Ukrainian art into Japan. In general, we have a lot of plans (Smiling – Aut.).

– Do you think there is something in common between the tendencies in the art of Japan and Ukraine?

E. Z. – I think the contemporary globalized world has already got rid of the borders, and it's been a long time ago, so the tendencies are common. Although we should not forget that our art sphere and art market, in particular, are developing in different conditions.

R. M. – In Japan, I expected to see the boom of media art, as one of the leading spheres in the country is the development of new technologies. But my expectations failed. For myself, I made such a conclusion: a few days are not enough to study any sphere, especially when you are in another country. All these processes need to be monitored online, but above all, of course, we should keep in touch with art figures.

– How would you assess the relations between our countries?

E. Z. – It is very pleased that the Ukrainian embassy is located in a cosy area of Tokyo. In general, let us note that our countries have been developed in different conditions, so we cannot say that they have any special, private relations. At the moment, we have, without any doubt, a common tragedy and its understanding – a catastrophe at nuclear power plants. Therefore, I am generally convinced that Ukraine and Japan will have fruitful co-operation, so the task of cultural leaders from both sides is to make all the necessary efforts to achieve it.

Text: Viktoriia Kulikova