The Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery presented Grace & Gravity: Recent Work by 11 Japanese Artists from September 14, 1995 through January 6, 1996. Grace & Gravity was the second of two exchange exhibitions organized by The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan and the Ohio Arts Council in cooperation with the Wexner Center for the Arts. The first exhibition in the exchange, Language of Place, which featured works by 11 Ohio artists, premiered at the Riffe Gallery from July to September 1994 and opened in Saitama in October 1994.

Grace & Gravity featured work by 11 Japanese artists in a variety of mediums including oil painting, photography, sculpture and installation. Artists in the exhibition included Yukio Fujimoto, Osaka; Hajime Imamura, Kyoto; Yukie Ishikawa, Saitama; Makoto Ito, Saitama; Hotaro Koyama, Tokyo; Shinji Murakami, Kanagawa; Takashi Sasaoka, Osaka; Eri Yakayanagi, Tokyo; Keizo Tawa, Saitama; Masayuki Tokunaga, Saitama; and Hee-chan Yoon, Saitama. The exhibition was curated by Yuji Maeyama, curator at The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama.

Grace & Gravity focused on the sense of Japanese space or place. The artists expressed that theme in their own creative ways. Some artists regard space as quivering or ambiguous, not as homogeneous or stable. Their work creates an atmospheric and intimate place. In contrast, other artists are making works which seem to have a centripetal force that draws in the viewer. These issues relate to the relationships between the past and the present. Old Japanese painting is an accumulation or succession of fragments of space just as cities in Japan are an accumulation of fragments of space.

The Riffe Gallery, operated by the Ohio Arts Council, showcases the work of Ohio’s artists and the collections of the state’s museums and galleries. The Riffe Gallery is located in the Vern Riffe Center for the Government and the Arts, State and High Streets, Columbus, OH. Gallery hours are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 11-4 p.m., Thursday and Friday 11-7:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 11-4 p.m. Admission is free. For information or to schedule a tour call the Riffe Gallery at 614/644-9624.

The Ohio Arts Council, a state agency established in 1965, is committed to the economic, educational and cultural development of the state. The Council believes the arts should be shared by the people of Ohio. The arts arise from public, individual and organizational efforts. The OAC supports and encourages those efforts.
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