The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, which were postponed for a year, are now just around the corner. With no end to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic in sight, the world longs to rediscover the real joy of sports. For participants, sports foster fundamental physical and mental health and vitality, as well as boosting immune strength. For eager fans, sports are the ultimate live event, guaranteed to thrill and brighten the mood.
 
To clear the fog and guide visitors in a brighter, more positive direction, ginza graphic gallery (ggg) is heralding the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics by staging an exhibition titled “Sports Graphic.”
 
How have Japan’s leading graphic designers used the limited space offered by a single poster sheet to convey elation and impact evoking the sensation of movement, beauty in composition, fresh ideas, and critical humor? Focusing on outstanding works from the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympic Games to the present day, this exhibition explores the intentions of the artists and the background of the times to show how the unscripted drama of sports was captured on paper.
 
We have also invited the haiku poet Ryoichi Bason Enomoto to pen haiku encapsulating the world-view exuded by each of the sports graphic works on display. Like haiku, posters and other types of graphic design are an art form that pares back superfluous elements in a process of elimination to concentrate solely on essence.
 
The exhibition will display around 120 works, comprising a diverse range of Japanese graphic art from the 1970s to the present day including items from the DNP graphic design archives and humorous three-dimensional works.