At Canvas, we hope to help you with more than just directions, We wish for you to interact with the city and
become an ambassador of Ginza to your friends and family.Use your social network to make them want to visit.
EXPLORE THE CITY
ART COLLECTION
Eat and Drink
Eat and Drink
EXPERIENCE
Shrine & Temples
ART
Landscape
Shops
“Enticing” - that is the theme of Canvas Ginza 8.
This time in the hotel we are displaying pieces of art which were created by artists from Japan, Europe, USA and South America.
Each piece “entices” your eyes and ears.
We hope that you take up the dialogue born from this artwork and carry it forth with you from the hotel as a never-ending story.
Art Coordination: plugin +, Natane Takeda
It’s the wall world
Lenticular LeWitt
Then is Now
Come Closer
Sound Shower
It's the wall world
The on-going and evolving project is to exchange the jigsaw puzzle pieces taken from the white wall of the galleries or museums with identically shaped pieces cut from the walls of various environment. The white wall became tradable with any kind of space and given the new role as an art piece in totally different world.
All the equally sized cut-out pieces are assembled into a large scale jigsaw mural to create an topography made by people with different histories and origins. The process of the artists' exchange with the local residents are documented and presented on video along side of the mural.
Mujinto Production
1F Watanabe Bldg., 2-12-6 Miyoshi, Koto-ku, Tokyo135-0022 Japan
+81-(0)3-6458-8225
http://www.mujin-to.com/
It’s the Wall World “Kyoto Machiya (Kyoto),” 2019
Cedar bark
Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
Many Kyo-machiya of good old days are still present in Nishijin, Kyoto. Nishijin is the birthplace of much praised Nishijin brocade as well as the home of textile industry.
Through the narrow alley between old town houses, there is a splendid Sukiya style house with a tea ceremony room. The house was built more than 100 years ago. The owner of the house was in textile business.
Where we exchanged the puzzle piece is “sodegaki,” a low fence to screen off further inside, located on the pass from the entrance to the inner court. The material seems cedar bark, often used for Japanese architecture as it will not corrode in order to protect the tree from the invaders and has long durability.
It’s the Wall World “Motomachi Apartment (Hiroshima),” 2019
Plywood
Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
- Hiroshima city municipal Motomachi high-rise apartments were build to solve the Motomach slum (a-bomb slum.)
The apartment was designed by Otaka Architect and Associates led by Masato Otaka who was a founding member of the Metabolism group along with Kisho Kurokawa. There is Motomachi shopping center in the buildings and its tenants were shop owners who had original right of the land. Many shops are closed now due to aging of shop owners and the changing style of retail business.
The puzzle piece is taken from the wall of a cosmetic store which was in business in the shopping center. The remains of letters of the sign of Shiseido, a major Japanese cosmetic company suggest the connection between the new hotel and Shiseido, which is established in Ginza.
Photo: Leslie Kee
Chim↑Pom
Chim↑Pom is an artist collective formed in 2005 in Tokyo with members Ryuta Ushiro,
Yasutaka Hayashi, Ellie, Masataka Okada, Motomu Inaoka, and Toshinori Mizuno.
Responding instinctively to the “real” of their times, Chim↑Pom has continuously released works that intervene in contemporary society with strong social messages. In addition to participating in exhibitions throughout the world, they develop various independent projects.
In 2015, they opened their artist-run space “Garter” in Tokyo to curate and showcase work by many of their contemporaries. They also initiated, organized, and participated in the international exhibition “Don’t Follow the Wind,” which was launched on March 11, 2015, in Fukushima inside the nuclear exclusion zone created after the 2011 nuclear disaster
It’s the Wall World “Kyoto Machiya (Kyoto),” 2019
Cedar bark
Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
Many Kyo-machiya of good old days are still present in Nishijin, Kyoto. Nishijin is the birthplace of much praised Nishijin brocade as well as the home of textile industry.
Through the narrow alley between old town houses, there is a splendid Sukiya style house with a tea ceremony room. The house was built more than 100 years ago. The owner of the house was in textile business.
Where we exchanged the puzzle piece is “sodegaki,” a low fence to screen off further inside, located on the pass from the entrance to the inner court. The material seems cedar bark, often used for Japanese architecture as it will not corrode in order to protect the tree from the invaders and has long durability.
It’s the Wall World “Motomachi Apartment (Hiroshima),” 2019
Plywood
Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
- Hiroshima city municipal Motomachi high-rise apartments were build to solve the Motomach slum (a-bomb slum.)
The apartment was designed by Otaka Architect and Associates led by Masato Otaka who was a founding member of the Metabolism group along with Kisho Kurokawa. There is Motomachi shopping center in the buildings and its tenants were shop owners who had original right of the land. Many shops are closed now due to aging of shop owners and the changing style of retail business.
The puzzle piece is taken from the wall of a cosmetic store which was in business in the shopping center. The remains of letters of the sign of Shiseido, a major Japanese cosmetic company suggest the connection between the new hotel and Shiseido, which is established in Ginza.
Lenticular LeWitt
The piece has it’s reference to the drawing series by Sol LeWitt. Using Lenticular printing which is a technology in that lenticular lenses are used to produce printed images with an illusion of depth, or the ability to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles. Monk layered 3 LeWitt drawings in each print. The viewer is asked to activate and animate the piece by walking through the gallery space. Each movement, however slight, is reflected in the changing colours of each printed cube. This series of work shows Monk’s love to contemporary art and respect for LeWitt. At the same time, this could be a witty rejoinder by Monk for great LeWitt’s lifetime theme about the relationship between two and three- dimension.
TARO NASU
1-2-11 Higashikanda Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0031 Japan
+81 (0)3 -5856-5713
http://www.taronasugallery.com/
Jonathan Monk
Born in 1969, Leicester, U.K. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Graduated from Glasgow School of Art, Scotland in 1991, Leicester Polytechnique, U.K. in 1988. Jonathan Monk has developed his unique style of creation, Incorporating the method of appropriation, under his consistent policy that no one can make anything which can be called perfectly 'original'. He is known for his style that deals with the generating process of art, where the appropriation of an art produces another work of art. Monk's works are the historical art quotation, questioning 'how art can be art'. He has exhibited in various locations, including Musee d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris), and Pinakothek der Moderne (München) and more.
Then is Now
I consider myself to be a photo conceptual artist. My text-based lenticular pieces are very much in line with most of my work. It is a lens-based advertising medium which evokes dialogs about framing and context. Framing and context is a central theme in my work. I am fascinated with the ways subtle shifts in the conceptual framing of a work can affect the context in which it is read and vice versa.
Photography is so much about perspective. Where the photographer is standing will dictate the way the image is read. With lenticular prints the concept is reversed. Where the viewer stands dictates the way the image is read. Most of these works reveal shifting paradoxes in phrases and words based off of simple changes in the text. I'm fascinated by the way apparently superficial shifts in the placement of words and letters can have deep impacts on the readers. When interacting with these works viewers are forced to perform an unconscious dance while at the same time becoming somewhat more self-conscious due to way they are encouraged to physically engage in primarily visual experience.
Jack Shainman Gallery
513 W 20th St, New York, NY 10011 USA
+1 212 645 1701
https://www.jackshainman.com/
Photo : Andrea Blanch
Hank Willis Thomas
Born in 1976, Plainfield, New Jersey
Lives and works in New York City
Hank Willis Thomas is a conceptual artist. His work focuses on themes related to perspective identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. He often incorporates recognizable icons into his work, many from well-known advertising and branding campaigns. On advertising, in an interview with Time, Thomas said, “Part of advertising’s success is based on its ability to reinforce generalizations developed around race, gender and ethnicity which are generally false, but [these generalizations] can sometimes be entertaining, sometimes true, and sometimes horrifying.”
Come Closer
There is constantly an idea of contact in Argote work and « Come closer » plays with the viewer and his intimacy. The intent behind the work is to bring the viewer closer to the different layers of the sculpture and to create a link with him. In doing so, the viewer is able to explore the images that are less visible, as well as the two expressions that interact with each other. The viewer can also discover the bottom phrase that says « As far as one can be », which plays an opposition, and then another sentence « come closer », which stands just before the bottom phrase and gives a name to the distance while attempting to contradict it. This work shows an attractive and sensual side, which is at the same time direct and vaporous.
PERROTIN TOKYO
Piramide Bldg., 1F. 6-6-9 Roppongi Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032 Japan
+81 (0)3-6721-0687
https://www.perrotin.com/
Photo : Claire Dorn
Iván Argote
Born in 1983 in Bogota, Colombia. Lives and works in Paris, France.
Argote’s practice spans across videos, photographs, sculpture, or interventions to public places and performances, searching the history, tradition, art, politics and authoritative control that are closely tied to us. He travels around the world to research the transformations of cities and the lands’ potential power, seeking for the signs of fallen power, studying the domination of power beneath them, while recognizing the structure of how a biased history becomes the official history; he makes use of these in his creations. Public monuments and sculpture are recurring themes in the artist’s work, and through Argote’s personal narratives, as well as the connections to history, ideology and consumerism, he is questioning the Western perspective of history.
Sound Shower
The device to feel the sound like pouring water by playing noise from a parametric speaker attached to a showerhead. The parametric speaker has special feature that limits earshot and how the sound is heard changes by degree and places. It evokes an illusion as one is having a real shower.
Mujinto Production
1F Watanabe Bldg., 2-12-6 Miyoshi, Koto-ku, Tokyo135-0022 Japan
+81-(0)3-6458-8225
http://www.mujin-to.com/
Lyota Yagi
Born in 1980, lives and works in Kyoto.
Yagi produces works to attempt our limited perceptual system or attitude that we only see what we want to see and we only hear what we want to hear through a critical thinking approach. Often incorporating ready-made system and tools, Yagi generates a phenomenon to enable human perception and engineering systems to come out clearly in fresh wonder.
Mediums to express his idea range widely from sound art, sculpture, video, installation to interactive art.
1
Come Closer
There is constantly an idea of contact in Argote work and « Come closer » plays with the viewer and his intimacy. The intent behind the work is to bring the viewer closer to the different layers of the sculpture and to create a link with him. In doing so, the viewer is able to explore the images that are less visible, as well as the two expressions that interact with each other. The viewer can also discover the bottom phrase that says « As far as one can be », which plays an opposition, and then another sentence « come closer », which stands just before the bottom phrase and gives a name to the distance while attempting to contradict it. This work shows an attractive and sensual side, which is at the same time direct and vaporous.
PERROTIN TOKYO
Piramide Bldg., 1F. 6-6-9 Roppongi Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032 Japan
+81 (0)3-6721-0687
https://www.perrotin.com/
Photo : Claire Dorn
Iván Argote
Born in 1983 in Bogota, Colombia. Lives and works in Paris, France.
Argote’s practice spans across videos, photographs, sculpture, or interventions to public places and performances, searching the history, tradition, art, politics and authoritative control that are closely tied to us. He travels around the world to research the transformations of cities and the lands’ potential power, seeking for the signs of fallen power, studying the domination of power beneath them, while recognizing the structure of how a biased history becomes the official history; he makes use of these in his creations. Public monuments and sculpture are recurring themes in the artist’s work, and through Argote’s personal narratives, as well as the connections to history, ideology and consumerism, he is questioning the Western perspective of history.
Then is Now
I consider myself to be a photo conceptual artist. My text-based lenticular pieces are very much in line with most of my work. It is a lens-based advertising medium which evokes dialogs about framing and context. Framing and context is a central theme in my work. I am fascinated with the ways subtle shifts in the conceptual framing of a work can affect the context in which it is read and vice versa.
Photography is so much about perspective. Where the photographer is standing will dictate the way the image is read. With lenticular prints the concept is reversed. Where the viewer stands dictates the way the image is read. Most of these works reveal shifting paradoxes in phrases and words based off of simple changes in the text. I'm fascinated by the way apparently superficial shifts in the placement of words and letters can have deep impacts on the readers. When interacting with these works viewers are forced to perform an unconscious dance while at the same time becoming somewhat more self-conscious due to way they are encouraged to physically engage in primarily visual experience.
Jack Shainman Gallery
513 W 20th St, New York, NY 10011 USA
+1 212 645 1701
https://www.jackshainman.com/
Photo : Andrea Blanch
Hank Willis Thomas
Born in 1976, Plainfield, New Jersey
Lives and works in New York City
Hank Willis Thomas is a conceptual artist. His work focuses on themes related to perspective identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. He often incorporates recognizable icons into his work, many from well-known advertising and branding campaigns. On advertising, in an interview with Time, Thomas said, “Part of advertising’s success is based on its ability to reinforce generalizations developed around race, gender and ethnicity which are generally false, but [these generalizations] can sometimes be entertaining, sometimes true, and sometimes horrifying.”
It's the wall world
The on-going and evolving project is to exchange the jigsaw puzzle pieces taken from the white wall of the galleries or museums with identically shaped pieces cut from the walls of various environment. The white wall became tradable with any kind of space and given the new role as an art piece in totally different world.
All the equally sized cut-out pieces are assembled into a large scale jigsaw mural to create an topography made by people with different histories and origins. The process of the artists' exchange with the local residents are documented and presented on video along side of the mural.
Mujinto Production
1F Watanabe Bldg., 2-12-6 Miyoshi, Koto-ku, Tokyo135-0022 Japan
+81-(0)3-6458-8225
http://www.mujin-to.com/
It’s the Wall World “Kyoto Machiya (Kyoto),” 2019
Cedar bark
Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
Many Kyo-machiya of good old days are still present in Nishijin, Kyoto. Nishijin is the birthplace of much praised Nishijin brocade as well as the home of textile industry.
Through the narrow alley between old town houses, there is a splendid Sukiya style house with a tea ceremony room. The house was built more than 100 years ago. The owner of the house was in textile business.
Where we exchanged the puzzle piece is “sodegaki,” a low fence to screen off further inside, located on the pass from the entrance to the inner court. The material seems cedar bark, often used for Japanese architecture as it will not corrode in order to protect the tree from the invaders and has long durability.
It’s the Wall World “Motomachi Apartment (Hiroshima),” 2019
Plywood
Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
- Hiroshima city municipal Motomachi high-rise apartments were build to solve the Motomach slum (a-bomb slum.)
The apartment was designed by Otaka Architect and Associates led by Masato Otaka who was a founding member of the Metabolism group along with Kisho Kurokawa. There is Motomachi shopping center in the buildings and its tenants were shop owners who had original right of the land. Many shops are closed now due to aging of shop owners and the changing style of retail business.
The puzzle piece is taken from the wall of a cosmetic store which was in business in the shopping center. The remains of letters of the sign of Shiseido, a major Japanese cosmetic company suggest the connection between the new hotel and Shiseido, which is established in Ginza.
Photo: Leslie Kee
Chim↑Pom
Chim↑Pom is an artist collective formed in 2005 in Tokyo with members Ryuta Ushiro,
Yasutaka Hayashi, Ellie, Masataka Okada, Motomu Inaoka, and Toshinori Mizuno.
Responding instinctively to the “real” of their times, Chim↑Pom has continuously released works that intervene in contemporary society with strong social messages. In addition to participating in exhibitions throughout the world, they develop various independent projects.
In 2015, they opened their artist-run space “Garter” in Tokyo to curate and showcase work by many of their contemporaries. They also initiated, organized, and participated in the international exhibition “Don’t Follow the Wind,” which was launched on March 11, 2015, in Fukushima inside the nuclear exclusion zone created after the 2011 nuclear disaster
It’s the Wall World “Kyoto Machiya (Kyoto),” 2019
Cedar bark
Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
Many Kyo-machiya of good old days are still present in Nishijin, Kyoto. Nishijin is the birthplace of much praised Nishijin brocade as well as the home of textile industry.
Through the narrow alley between old town houses, there is a splendid Sukiya style house with a tea ceremony room. The house was built more than 100 years ago. The owner of the house was in textile business.
Where we exchanged the puzzle piece is “sodegaki,” a low fence to screen off further inside, located on the pass from the entrance to the inner court. The material seems cedar bark, often used for Japanese architecture as it will not corrode in order to protect the tree from the invaders and has long durability.
It’s the Wall World “Motomachi Apartment (Hiroshima),” 2019
Plywood
Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
- Hiroshima city municipal Motomachi high-rise apartments were build to solve the Motomach slum (a-bomb slum.)
The apartment was designed by Otaka Architect and Associates led by Masato Otaka who was a founding member of the Metabolism group along with Kisho Kurokawa. There is Motomachi shopping center in the buildings and its tenants were shop owners who had original right of the land. Many shops are closed now due to aging of shop owners and the changing style of retail business.
The puzzle piece is taken from the wall of a cosmetic store which was in business in the shopping center. The remains of letters of the sign of Shiseido, a major Japanese cosmetic company suggest the connection between the new hotel and Shiseido, which is established in Ginza.
Sound Shower
The device to feel the sound like pouring water by playing noise from a parametric speaker attached to a showerhead. The parametric speaker has special feature that limits earshot and how the sound is heard changes by degree and places. It evokes an illusion as one is having a real shower.
Mujinto Production
1F Watanabe Bldg., 2-12-6 Miyoshi, Koto-ku, Tokyo135-0022 Japan
+81-(0)3-6458-8225
http://www.mujin-to.com/
Lyota Yagi
Born in 1980, lives and works in Kyoto.
Yagi produces works to attempt our limited perceptual system or attitude that we only see what we want to see and we only hear what we want to hear through a critical thinking approach. Often incorporating ready-made system and tools, Yagi generates a phenomenon to enable human perception and engineering systems to come out clearly in fresh wonder.
Mediums to express his idea range widely from sound art, sculpture, video, installation to interactive art.
Lenticular LeWitt
The piece has it’s reference to the drawing series by Sol LeWitt. Using Lenticular printing which is a technology in that lenticular lenses are used to produce printed images with an illusion of depth, or the ability to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles. Monk layered 3 LeWitt drawings in each print. The viewer is asked to activate and animate the piece by walking through the gallery space. Each movement, however slight, is reflected in the changing colours of each printed cube. This series of work shows Monk’s love to contemporary art and respect for LeWitt. At the same time, this could be a witty rejoinder by Monk for great LeWitt’s lifetime theme about the relationship between two and three- dimension.
TARO NASU
1-2-11 Higashikanda Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0031 Japan
+81 (0)3 -5856-5713
http://www.taronasugallery.com/
Jonathan Monk
Born in 1969, Leicester, U.K. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Graduated from Glasgow School of Art, Scotland in 1991, Leicester Polytechnique, U.K. in 1988. Jonathan Monk has developed his unique style of creation, Incorporating the method of appropriation, under his consistent policy that no one can make anything which can be called perfectly 'original'. He is known for his style that deals with the generating process of art, where the appropriation of an art produces another work of art. Monk's works are the historical art quotation, questioning 'how art can be art'. He has exhibited in various locations, including Musee d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris), and Pinakothek der Moderne (München) and more.
