Exhibitions

Past Exhibition Special Exhibition

Guess what? Hardcore Contemporary Art’s Truly a World Treasure:
Selected Works from the YAGEO Foundation Collection

Date

Location

Art Museum Special Exhibition Gallery

About the Exhibition

You’re probably surprised at the peculiar title. The idea was to emphasize the fact that, in at least two senses, this show features contemporary artworks that are truly nothing less than world treasures.

Firstly, they are “world treasures” in terms of their market value and agreed insured value. At auctions these days, even works by the living artists can sell for prices in the tens of millions of dollars. A number of works in the exhibition fall into this category. Secondly, they are “world treasures” in an art historical sense. The best artists are those who seek to express things that need to be communicated now in forms both rooted in art history to date and destined not to grow stale in the future. It is for this very reason that their works radiate brilliance in a world overflowing with all manner of expression. For this exhibition, this collection of “hardcore contemporary art ” deserving of the title ” world treasures” has been organized into ten chapters in accordance with such key words as “muse,” “sublime,” “memory” and “new beauty.”

The exhibition will feature 75 works by 40 artists, all of whom could be described as risk takers and members of contemporary art’s “hard core,” including Sanyu, Mark Rothko, Willem De Kooning, Francis Bacon, Zao Wou-Ki, Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Gerhard Richter, Sugimoto hiroshi, Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky, Cai Guo-Qiang, Ron Mueck, Peter Doig, and Marc Quinn. Naturally, some of the best work by these artists is included.

No doubt there are some people who will say, ” Collection exhibitions are never very interesting.” But this exhibition is different. For a start, we’ve incorporated the kind of interactive element that is only possible with “an exhibition based on a collection” in the form of a game enabling visitors to experience what it’s like to be a collector. So don’t miss this exhibition, the first (and probably last) where you’ll have the opportunity not only to view some real masterpieces, but also to think about what an artwork’s “value” really is.

What is the YAGEO Foundation Collection?

The international art magazine ARTnews has included the YAGEO Foundation Collection in its list of the world’s top ten collections for the last two years running. It has two main focuses: Western modern and contemporary art, and Chinese modern and contemporary art. This bringing together of Western and Eastern art is its main distinguishing feature.

The works are selected by Pierre Tie Min Chen. Chen, who is also the CEO of the YAGEO Corporation, a leading passive electronic component manufacturer based in Taiwan, is such a fan of art that he began buying artworks when he was still a student with money he earned from programming . A s a result of this enthusiasm, he has built up a magnificent collection in the space of just a single generation. Today, many of the Foundation’s artworks are displayed in offices, guesthouses and in Chen’s own home (there is a Warhol in his living room and a Man Ray in his bathroom!) based on the concepts of “living with art” and “art is accessible.” Some are also on loan to internationally renowned art museums such as the Tate.

本展は、政府による美術品補償制度の適用を受けています。

Hours & Admissions

Location

Art Museum Special Exhibition Gallery

Date

2014.6.20(Fri)-8.24(Sun)

Time

10:00-17:00 (Friday is 10:00-20:00)

Closed

Mondays (except July 21) and July 22, 2014

Admission

Adults: ¥1200 (900)
College and university students: ¥500 (250)

*All prices include tax.
*Including the admission fee for Art and Printed Matter from the 1960s to the 1970s and MOMAT Collection and Patterns of Delight: Crafts Gallery for Kids&Adults From the Museum Collection (June 28- ).
*Prices in parentheses are for groups of more than 20 persons.
*Free for high school students and under 18.
*Persons with disability and one person accompanying them are admitted free of charge.

Organizer

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
The YAGEO Foundation

Cooperation

ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS CO., LTD.
YAMATO LOGISTICS CO., LTD.

 This exhibition is covered by the Japanese Act on the Indemnification of Damage to Works of Art in Exhibitions (Act No.17 of 2011)

Access

Transportation Access:
3 minutes walk from 1b exit, Takebashi station, Subway Tozai Line (T-08)

Address: 3-1 Kitanomaru-koen, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8322

→ See also Access

Traveling to

Nagoya City Art Museum (September 6 – October 26, 2014)
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art(December 20, 2014 – March 8, 2015)
The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (March 31 – May 31, 2015)

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