Roppongi, which used to be chiefly known as a pick-up party pit for Tokyo's ex-pat population, has recently begun to emerge as a contemporary art center. Spurred by the Mori Art Museum's opening in 2003, the neighborhood now presents the possibility of a short walking tour of new and interesting art spaces.
From the Roppongi Crossing exit of Roppongi Station head down the small street that slices off just to the left of the Almond Cafe as you are facing it, several hundred meters down on the right side (across from Striped House, which has a good selection of art books and a gallery upstairs) you come across a pair of old white buildings that have been dubbed "Complex." Things are going well for the quintet of gallerists who occupy Complex.
The Gallery Min Min show of new oil paintings by Faris McReynolds are figurative paintings that use a crude style to suggest ambiguous relationships -- frequently in domestic environments -- which are reaching a decisive moment. A man in a business suit lies unconscious, surrounded by a crowd in "Office Party," while a fat youngster is blurred as he jumps up and down in his grandparents' sitting room in "Junior" (both 2005).