Kenjiro Okazaki 而今而後 Time Unfolding Here Opens in Tokyo

galerie frank elbaz has announced the opening of Kenjiro Okazaki’s exhibition 而今而後 Time Unfolding Here, on Tuesday, April 29 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

This large-scale exhibition offers an in-depth survey of the work of Kenjiro Okazaki (b. 1955), one of Japan’s foremost 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.