It is exceedingly rare for a contemporary art show to sell out at the opening reception, and especially so in Japan. It is rarer still to arrive at a vernissage to discover that the show has sold out even before it opened. But that was the case with the Keegan McHargue exhibition that debuted at the Hiromi Yoshii Gallery in Roppongi last week.
Titled "Drawing Circles," the show comprises 10 McHargue works on paper, and every last one of them had a red dot beside it at 7 p.m. when the doors swung open. Gallery owner Hiromi Yoshii attributes the success to his knack for picking edgy artists, part of a philosophy which sees him focusing on post-9/11 art:
"I show artists from after 9/11," he says, "people doing the most original things, that is, things from after the reality of 9/11, which I believe is a universal point of division. In the '90s, artists addressed their private lives, but now they are looking outside, for universals, and that is the sort of artist I am looking for."