New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters

October 4, 2008
past event image
Gallery past event

Over the past few years, Japanese bamboo artists have reached beyond the established boundaries of their craft. New Bamboo is the world’s first exhibition devoted exclusively to Japanese bamboo as a sculptural medium, featuring 23 innovators, old and young, who explore to the full the tension between traditional skill and new expressive opportunities. Ranging from ethereal, computer-designed filigrees, through dramatic wall pieces to angry-looking, dirt-encrusted tangles and anthropomorphic, sexually charged sculptures, the more than 90 works on display demonstrate awesome technique, meticulous attention to detail and extraordinary creativity.

The fully illustrated catalogue of this exhibition can be purchased at the Japan Society Shop.

View an image gallery of works from the exhibition.

View a full exhibition checklist (PDF).

Admission
$12; students & seniors $10; Japan Society members and children under 16 free.  Admission is free to all on Friday nights, 6-9 PM.

Docent-led walk-in tours are conducted Tuesday-Sunday at 12:30 pm with additional tours on Saturday & Sunday at 2 pm.  Japanese language tours are conducted Friday nights at 6 pm by appointment.  Tours are free with admission and approximately one hour in duration.

Group tours can be arranged by calling (212) 715-1224.

Gallery hours:

Tuesday through Thursday 11 am – 6 pm
Friday 11 am – 9 pm
Saturday & Sunday 11 am – 5 pm
The gallery is closed on Mondays
and major holidays (Nov. 27, Dec. 25 & 26, Jan. 1).

New Bamboo: Contemporary Masters is supported by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation, Diane and Arthur Abbey, the Arete Foundation, the Cotsen Foundation for Academic Research, Edward and Anne Studzinski, Chris A. Wachenheim, The Japan Foundation, TAI Gallery, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc., and the Leadership Committee for New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters.

Additional support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, a State agency.


Exhibitions at Japan Society are also made possible in part by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund and the Friends of the Gallery.  Installations at Japan Society Gallery are supported by a generous gift from Henry Cornell.

Japan Society also wishes to thank The W.L.S. Spencer Foundation for its catalogue support.

 

  • October 4, 2008 – January 11, 2009