Judge comments | aatm art award tokyo marunouchi 2018

Yusaku Imamura
Yusaku Imamura
Professor, Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts
Professor,
Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School,
Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo

The commitment and uniqueness of the individual's approach to their work, and the depth and persistence with which they pursue it. This is where new and unique expressions are born. I look forward to encountering such works.

The way one approaches to their works and the uniqueness of it, and the pursuit to pursue it is what creates a new original expression. I am looking forward to encountering to such works.

Eriko Kimura
Eriko Kimura
Yokohama Museum of Art Chief Curator
Curator, Yokohama Museum of Art

This year, I had the impression that there were more artists dealing with personal motifs than usual. Even if the starting point for production is something familiar to you, I would like you to take on the challenge of creating works that have a greater sense of scale and breadth. We hope that it will be a challenging exhibition that takes advantage of the characteristics of a public space, which is different from a closed gallery.

I feel that there were more artists with individual motif in this year's contest than usual. Even if the starting point was from familiar matter, I prefer them to challenge their works in terms of scale and spread from there. I expect to see works that challenge taking advantage of the features of public space, which differ from closed galleries.

Shigeo Goto
Shigeo Goto
Editor, Creative Director, Kyoto University of Art and Design Professor
Editor, Creative Director,
Professor, Kyoto University of Art and Design

Although I chose many interesting three-dimensional and video works, there were actually many masterpieces of painting this year. However, there are not many new ways of expression invented, and most of the expressions are the result of persistent struggle within a self-closed private world. Is the talent that will change the times still hidden?

Although amusing works with contents such as 3D and moving images were chosen, there were many great painting works as well. However, there are hardly any works with new ways of expression and most of them are just results of tenacious conflict in closed world. The talent of which will change the era is yet to be found.

Tomio Koyama
Tomio Koyama
Representative of Tomio Koyama Gallery, representative director of Japan Contemporary Art Dealers Association
Director, Tomio Koyama Gallery,
Representative Director,
Contemporary Art Dealers Association Nippon

As always, there were people who expressed themselves using new approaches, which surprised me, but there were also many people who expressed themselves through academic media. I'm sure both have potential in the future, but I'm hoping that they will go from "creating" to "exhibiting" their work and "showing it to me."

Although there were some new approaches towards expression, which surprised me as always, there were many artists who expressed in academic media. I believe there are possibilities to both. However, I expect them to shift from the creating works to exhibiting and “showing” them.

Akiya Takahashi
Akiya Takahashi
Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo Director
Director, Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo

The students' works provide a glimpse of how contemporary art is gradually permeating everyday life. While the overall style of expression has become more sophisticated and unified than before, it also feels like the scale itself and the range of sensibilities have narrowed a little. It may be said that there were fewer failures overall and that there was more cohesion.

The fact that modern art has spread to the next generation can be observed from students' works. As the taste of expression were sophisticated and refined than before, it also seems that the scale itself and the range of sensitivity has narrowed. It can be said that there is less collapse as a whole and that the cohesion has increased.

Akira Tatehata
Akira Tatehata
President of Tama Art University, Director of the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama
President, Tama Art University,
Director, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama

Although we live in an era where there is no dominant ism in sight, the multipolar situation that is evident in this competition is also favorable in that each artist is exploring their own unique world. It is encouraging to see that there were writers with even more unique qualities here and there.

Although it is an era which leading ism does not exist, the fact that the multipolar genre of works could be found and that each individual searched for their indigenous world made this contest remarkable. Above all, it is promising that there were numerous artists with unique visions.

Reiichi Noguchi
Reiichi Noguchi
Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo Curator
Curator, Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo

Judging this award is very difficult. This is because the origins and Category of writers are diverse, making it difficult to establish evaluation criteria. But it's also fun at the same time. There are fewer restrictions than other competitions, and you can see a wide range of free expression. Once again, unique and earnest works were selected. I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops in the future.

Being a judge in this contest is difficult since there are artists from various genres and evaluation criterion is not defined. However, it is also fun at the same time because there are only few restrictions unlike other contests and therefore, free and extensive expressions can be seen. As always, unique and compelling works were chosen. I am looking forward to the development of each works.