Exhibition Archive
Exhibition information
The 356th Ginza Graphic Gallery Exhibition ENOMOTO RYOICHI KOKAIKI
November 11, 2016 - December 24, 2016
This fall, Ginza Graphic Gallery (ggg) will showcase the multi-faceted work of Ryoichi Enomoto, a creative director, producer, and designer with a sharp eye for the signs of the times, whose creative journey has criss-crossed the seas of various cultural genres including art, design, drama, magazine editing, and exhibition planning.
Enomoto’s world is jam-packed with gems, including a wide array of work that had enormous influence on the Japanese cultural scene in the 1970s and 80s, such as dynamic calligraphy and large paintings inspired by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa’s swan song, The Travels of Prince Takaoka, Bikkuri House, a legendary sub-culture magazine that pioneered the open participation approach, and Nihon Guraffiku-ten, an exhibition of graphic art that aimed to shatter established ideas and discover new creative talent. Enomoto’s graphic design activities include work with Shuji Terayama and the Tenjo Sajiki theater troupe and dance posters for Saburo Teshigawara. Not to be forgotten is Nogyo shugi: Enomoto Ryoichi no aidia noto (Manual skills for brain work: conceptual notes by Ryoichi Enomoto), which contains a vast volume of notes providing a glimpse into Enomoto’s mind.
We ask you to publicize the exhibition in the hope that it will generate the winds of stimulus to fill the sails of a younger generation of artists just voyaging forth on the seas of creativity.
Venue
DNP Ginza Building 1st floor 7-2,
Ginza 7-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:03-3571-5206/FAX:03-3289-1389
Artist’s Thoughts on the Exhibition
When I was 12, one of my drawings was chosen for the cover of a collection of essays by pupils graduating from my elementary school. Perhaps this was what launched me on my voyage across the seas of design. At 16, I was selected to exhibit in the commercial art division at Nikaten, one of Japan’s oldest competitive art exhibitions. The work I displayed was a poster for Tamuton-go no tabi (the voyage of the Tamuton), a whimsical children’s adventure tale about a boat. Gradually sailing out into the seas of design, I entered Musashino Art University to study under the one of my creative heroes, Kiyoshi Awazu. As a university student I published a collection of poetry called Nenekishitsu okoku (Phlegmatic kingdom), which contained a poem called Nana-sen-ya no kokai (7,000-night voyage). I considered life to be a voyage. Recently I took three years to transcribe The Travels of Prince Takaoka by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, which I had read earlier in my life. The book re-sparked a revelation. The seas of graphic design, long heated up by advertising, were as hot as if heated by an undersea volcano. For me, however, these seas were even hotter in the 60s and 70s, a time of experimentation when we strove to find new veins of creativity. If you look, you can see that it is hard to voyage across the seas of design today unless you are a tough sailor who can read the charts, rather than a romanticist who reads the stars, and for me this is a warning of stormy seas ahead. I feel I need to swiftly exhibit my retrospective Kokai Journal to encourage the young challengers setting out on their adventures across those seas. (Ryoichi Enomoto)
Profile
Ryoichi Enomoto
Born in Tokyo in 1947, Enomoto graduated from the Musashino Art University Department of Art and Design. He works as a creative director and producer, and heads the Atamatote International design studio. He is a director and vice-chair of Japan Inter-Design Forum. He is also a visiting professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design, and a specially-appointed professor at the Regional Planning Research Center, Taisho University. His publications include Ato uirusu (Art virus), Abanato memoriaru (Urbanart memorial), Nogyo shugi: Enomoto Ryoichi no aidia noto (Manual skills for brain work: conceptual notes by Ryoichi Enomoto), and Tokyo monsuta rando (Tokyo monster land). He was involved with the Tenjo Sajiki theater troupe from 1968. In 1974 he founded the monthly magazine Bikkuri House with Sakumi Hagiwara. He has since engaged in various fields of work including editing, publishing, cultural events, and TV show production. Between 1980 and 1999 he was producer for the Nippon Graphic Exhibition, Objet Tokyo Exhibition, and Urbanart exhibition. In 1989 he was supervising producer for the Sumitomo Pavilion at the World Design Exposition. He was public affairs art director for Yokohama Exotic Showcase ’89 and producer for Cow Parade Tokyo 2003. He is a member of the emblem committee for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
