Tokyo's multifaceted gallery scene usually slows down a bit in the summer, so May has seen a whack of openings across the city.
At Nichido Contemporary Art ( www.nca-g.com ) in Chuo Ward's Hatchobori, critic and writer Kentaro Ichihara has curated a show loosely based on identity. Regardless of the vague explanations of the theme in the press release, mostly it's a reason to bring together an engaging group of figurative artworks. Most obvious in the gallery's large rectangular space are two life-size sculptures by cross-gender artist Pyuupiru, who most recently was the most Goth thing about the Yokohama Museum of Art's "Goth" exhibition. The two humanoid creatures on pedestals at the NCA look like hunchbacked fashion victims suffering under the excesses of the Cat in the Hat's stylist. They are a playful start, standing next to an installation of paintings, sculptures, paper cuttings and line drawings by Makito Okada that tumble from the wall down onto the floor, reminiscent of Sarah Sze's sprawling installation at Hermes, but homespun and craftlike rather than ready-made like the American artist's.
Two series of photographic works fill opposite ends of the room. One is by 2003 Venice Bienale artist (Swiss Pavillion) and NCA favorite Emmanuelle Antille, showing a woman in a brassiere confronting or confronted by an older woman, from Antille's ongoing exploration of the relationships between mothers and daughters. Across from that are equally large prints by Japanese photographer Masahito Koshinaka. Blurry street shots, they are disorienting at first until you start to make out individuals in the crowds walking across their frames.