Art Fair Tokyo - An art market in the making?

[nihonga]

Big cities like London, New York, Paris, and even Chicago and Berlin, all have art fairs, and art there is like an industry. The founder of Art Fair Tokyo wanted to have the same kind of art fair in Tokyo. They first tried in 1992, but maybe Japan just wasn't ready yet. So, in 2005 they relaunched the project. This year, it's shaping up to be bigger than ever.

Q: What is slowing the development of the contemporary market in Japan?

A: There is no historical connection with the past. In the Meiji and Taisho periods, people were still collecting and supporting artists. Then, sometime after World War II they forgot about it. But from the exhibition numbers, you can see that they (Japanese people) are still going to museums and love art.

Full Article: Interview With The Creators of Art Fair Tokyo

Art Fair Tokyo takes place from Tuesday, April 10, 2007 to Thursday April 12, 2007 at the Tokyo International Forum.

Official Site: Art Fair Tokyo

[Naidu]

Hi Nihonga
I'm an art collector and will be in Tokyo in May. Any recommendations on the galleries to visit to look and acquire?

[megmaggio]

Our experience as an exhibitor at ART TOKYO is that Japanese art lovers are not art buyers yet. I hope this changes really fast. There is so much great art in Japan and I hope it is collected by as many Japanese as foreigners! We are working with Japanese artists in Beijing. We are always looking for new, young talented Japanese artists. Please see our website, Pekin Fine Arts

Cheers,

Meg

M.Maggio
Director
Pekin Fine Arts
Pekin Fine Arts

Originally Posted by Naidu

Hi Nihonga
I'm an art collector and will be in Tokyo in May. Any recommendations on the galleries to visit to look and acquire?

[nihonga]

There is an article from Business Week on 101Tokyo 2008 that pretty much agrees with what Meg said - Japanese art fans are not necessarily Japanese art collectors.

Eye on Asia Tokyo Art Fair Revisited - BusinessWeek

There is also a nice report on the 101 Tokyo art fair, with a lot of pictures, at Ping Magazine:

Tokyo 101 Art Fair Review - PingMag

Maybe Art Fair Tokyo and 101Tokyo will help to create more Japanese art collectors in the future.