Kokoka is the shorted form of Kokusai Koryu Kaikan, the Japanese name for the Kyoto City International Foundation. Since Kokoka is a municipal building, it is involved with the Kyoto Art festival and has become a venue where a handful of artists can be spotlighted in recent years.
When you meet people only once a year at an exhibition, it is sometimes easier to remember their artwork. Now we can connect an artist’s face with his or her artwork.
Now the room is empty, and the sounds echo off the wall. It all happened in the blink of an eye…
To make this large group show easier to see, the work had to be divided into smaller sections. Does the artwork in this section belong with the paintings or the sculpture? You decide.
The annual show at the Annex is unusual in that many stained-glass artists are also featured. In fact, one hallway is darkened so that the lamps and other glass items can show off their bright colours.
The lines are blurred between the different styles of painting and their labels. In Japan, the traditional method of mixing powdered pigments (often made from natural minerals) with binders is called nihonga to differentiate from paintings done with oil or acrylic paints to create a gouache effect. Coloured pencils are basically dried oil paint or watercolour paint in a stick. What if you used stencils with dyes on paper? Things get complicated as you can see.
Probably more of the artwork in other categories are mixed media, since more and more artists are exploring new medium mixed with a familiar one. Genres are also more fluid than they used to be.
Ink is a medium that is greatly used in Asia but rarely used in Europe, North America, or Oceania. Ink wash, Chinese brush paintings, sumi-e, and ink paintings or calligraphy, shodo, sagyeong or one of the many other names used are highly valued forms of artistic expression in Asia.
Printmakers and photographers are exploring alternative methods of expression but yet still honouring traditional methods all over the world. Some are exploring digital art, some are using 3d printers, and some are using traditional Japanese printing techniques. You never know what you will see at the Annex as part of the annual Kyoto art festival.
The textile and paper artists tend not to create work that is as flashy as others, but nonetheless they are earning recognition every year at the annual International Exhibition of Art in the Annex of the Kyoto Municipal Art Museum. You might have to look carefully at its details to fully appreciate the artwork, but that extra time is usually worth it.