2000.8.2 [Thu] - 10.9 [Mon]

Every exhibition of works from the Terada Collection features a different selection of paintings on a different theme. This fourth exhibition is titled "Territory of Fantasy: Figurative Paintings from the Terada Collection". The distinction between the figurative and the abstract is often used as a way to categorize paintings. Paintings originally fulfilled the practical function of recording natural landscapes or immortalizing the faces of sitters in portraits, but after the invention of photography in the 19th century, this documentary role was ceded to photographs, and artists gradually moved towards abstract painting, which takes color and shape as subjects in themselves. However, although a photograph reflects reality objectively, there are still many ways in which the photographer can express his or her personal vision, and in the same way, figurative paintings, which depict their subjects through the filter of the artist's ideas, do not simply represent things in a purely realistic fashion, but offer a massively enriched expressive scope. In this exhibition, the viewer will be presented with a group of visionary paintings faithfully depicting purely imaginary landscapes, living things, and other subjects. Although the images in these paintings exist in the mind of the artist, their imaginary elements, despite their lack of physical tangibility, are lent a physicality as solid as if they were real, and made to materialize in the pictures as highly-resolved images, fully imagined to the last detail. The exhibition will be comprised of about 120 works, including oils, watercolors, sketches and woodblock prints. Among the paintings will be hyper-realist landscapes and buildings by Nomata Minoru and Okuyama Tamiya, Sogasa Masayoshi's depictions of the strangeness lurking in people's collective consciousness, heartwarming visionary worlds unveiled by Ochida Yoko and Kosugi Kojiro, the surrealist world of Kawaguchi Kimio, painted with a fine detail reminiscent of 15th-century renaissance paintings, and works by Nambata Fumio, evoking an inner fantasy world with dramatic sensuality. Other hyper-realist scenes and mysterious alien worlds will abound. Never before have so many meticulously-imagined visionary paintings been exhibited together under one roof. The Tokyo Opera City Gallery is the only venue capable of doing justice to the stunning set of works amassed by a single collector that is the Terada Collection. Featured artists (in alphabetical order): Aiba Takeo, Arimoto Toshio, Ebisu Shuji, Fujii Kazutomo, Fujii Kyui, Higashi Koji, Ikeda Tatsuo, Karasawa Hitoshi, Kato Kiyomi, Kawachi Ryosuke, Kawaguchi Kimio, Kawarada Toru, Kosugi Kojiro, Hasegawa Kenji, Nambata Fumio, Nomata Minoru, Ochida Yoko, Okuyama Tamiya, Oyamada Jiro, Sogasa Masayoshi, Suzuki Kazumichi, Takeda Fumiko

ARIMOTO Toshio "Room with Fireworks" 116.5 x73.0cm 1979 NOMATA Minoru "Sublime 1" 145.5 x 89.4cm 1990 KAWAUCHI Ryosuke "Herbal Garden" 21.0 x 41.0cm 1997 OKUYAMA Tamie "Dawn Air" 130.5 x 97.0cm 1996 OCHIDA Yoko "A Daydreamer in Isolation" 53.0 x 45.5cm 1996

Information Dates: Wednesday 2 August, 2000 - Monday 9 Octorber, 2000 Opening Hours: 12:00 - 20:00 (to 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, entry up to 30 minutes before closing) Closed: Mondays (Tuesday if the Monday is a public holiday), year-end/new year, General closing days (twice a year) Admission: Ordinary:300 yen (200 yen), College and high school students: 200 yen (150yen), Junior high and elementary school students: 100 yen (50 yen), Children below school age: free *Amounts in brackets ( ) are rates for groups 15 or more. Organizered by the Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation Sponsored by Nippon Life Insurance Company / NTT Urban Development Co. /Odakyu Electric Railway Co.,Ltd. For further information: Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery Tel. +81-3-5353-0756