For the capital city’s artists, art lovers and connoisseurs of Japanese culture, New Delhi-based Japan Foundation, Japan’s public institution engaged in promotion of the nation’s culture and language across the world, has mounted an exclusive exhibition of Japanese posters at the Regional Centre of lalit Kala Akademi at Kharavel Nagar here.
The fortnight-long expo that would be on view at the sprawling gallery of the Akademi till March 18 showcases the works of 15 well-known Japanese graphic designers. They are Kiyoshi Awazu, Shigeo Fukuda, Yusaku Kamekura, Mitsuo Katsui, Shin Matsunaga, Kazumasa Nagai, Keisuke Nagatomo, Masayoshi Nakajo, Makoto Nakamura, Yukimasa Okumura, Makoto Saito, Koichi Sato, Ikko Tanaka, Masatoshi Toda and Tadanori Yokoo.
The works were created during the decade of 1980 to 1990 that is known as the “Bubble Economy” in Japan, explained the hosts. The decade witnessed a spurt of business and economic activities and, thus, various enterprises invested lot of money in advertising and publicity that offered enough opportunities for the graphic designers to craft out a wide variety of designs.
The decade also generated an increasing awareness on environmental issues and it was also the period that showed signs of globalisation distinctly visible in the Japanese society. All these awareness and reactions were vividly reflected in the works of the artists of that period who designed posters for a number of global summits.
“Through these posters, we would like the audience to enjoy the works of world-famous graphic designers and at the same time get a glimpse of the social conditions in Japan during that time,” stated the exhibition curators.
lalit Kala Akademi Regional Secretary Ramakrishna Vedala opined that the exhibition is unique in many aspects and such shows rarely reach smaller cities like Bhubaneswar. Meenaketan Patnaik, faculty member of BK College of Art and Craft, Bhubaneswar, and Dhauli College of Art and Craft principal Panchanan Samal, both present at the exhibition, also aired similar views. The exhibition has been drawing a large number of art students, they informed.