Kenjiro Okazaki

The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo is pleased to present a large-scale, in-depth survey of the work of Kenjiro Okazaki (b. 1955), one of Japan’s leading contemporary artists.

Innovative not only in painting and sculpture, but also in a wide range of fields including architecture, environmental cultural sphere initiative, children’s books, and robotics, Okazaki has also been active as a culture critic. At the root is his conception and practice of zōkei* (plastic arts) as a force that reconnects our perception and the world.

With scientific and technological innovations such as Artificial Intelligence, environmental crises, and political chaos, the world and social institutions as we have known them seem to be rapidly losing their validity. Is the world falling apart?

In response to this question, Okazaki asserts that it is not the world but our perception that is in turmoil. For him, zōkei is the force that transforms the very framework for our perception of the world. In other words, it is about releasing the malleability of the world by changing our perception of it, as well as restoring that same quality to perception through concrete engagement with the world. According to him, zōkei is about reconnecting these two types of malleability through practice.

The exhibition will provide a comprehensive overview of the work of the artist, who has recently received increasing international recognition. Focusing on the latest output since 2021—a year that marked a major turn in his career—the show will also feature key works from the earlier periods.

—The world continues to be reborn, again and again. From now and later.

* The Japanese term refers to the act of shaping or creating forms, including “zōkei geijutsu,” “plastic arts.” The “plastic” in this last English word also alludes to the capability of being molded or shaped into different forms, as in “plasticity.”

Exhibition Highlights

A Comprehensive Survey of One of Japan’s Leading Artists

A large-scale presentation of Okazaki’s work, developed in multiple media from painting to sculpture to architecture, since he first attracted attention in the early 1980s with his “Akasakamitsuke” sculpture series. Teaching, critical writing, robot construction, environmental cultural sphere initiative…. This exhibition offers a broad overview of Okazaki’s work, difficult to grasp in its entirety due to the radical inventiveness he has achieved through his superhuman intelligence in each of these fields, with a focus on the overarching theme of zōkei (form-making).

An Extensive Presentation of the Artist’s Latest Production Since 2021

“而今而後” (lit. “Now and hereafter”; “Time Unfolding Here”) in the show’s title is a quotation from the Analects of Confucius. Since 2021, Okazaki Kenjirō says that the time-space framework of his thinking has been undergoing a major turn amid a double change in society and his own personal experience. The exhibition will feature around 100 new and recent works by the artist, who has since been in a period of great productivity.

Artist Profile