Japanese Art Brut II at Halle Saint-Pierre

The exhibition 'Art brut japonais II' runs from September 8, 2018 to March 10, 2019 at Halle Saint-Pierre in Paris. It is the second installment of a show first presented in 2010, part of the Japonism 2018 season. The exhibition explores the influence of cultural conditioning on marginal artists, questioning whether their work can be considered pure art brut. Featured artists include Shinichi Sawada, known for his ceramic Janus-like creatures shown at the 2013 Venice Biennale; Naoya Matsumoto, who created large 'shachihoko' dragon-carp monsters; and Norimitsu Kokubo, whose eight-meter scroll Panorama du monde depicts a hyper-urban landscape. Other artists include Makoto Fukui, Yu Fujita, Satoshi Nishikawa, Kiyoshi Sakai, Yoshihiro Watanabe, Kazu Suzuki, Takumi Matsuhashi, and Yukio Miyashita. The exhibition also includes drawings by Hiroshima survivors. Curator Martine Lusardy states that singular personalities invent their own mythology within all cultures. The show raises the question of whether this is Japanese art brut or art brut in Japan.