KOSAKU KANECHIKA is pleased to participate in Art Fair Tokyo 2022 from March 11 to March 13, 2022 with works by Yutaka Aoki, Junko Oki, Takuro Kuwata, Ataru Sato and Noritaka Tatehana. The presentation is a collaboration with SNORK | Modern and Contemporary, a vintage furniture store that specializes in Finnish Modernist design, which will be exhibiting designs by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto alongside the artworks by the five contemporary artists.

Working with his wife Aino, Alvar Aalto realized many architectural projects, extending into the design of furniture, lighting, and other products. The works presented in this booth are a selection of original furniture by the Aaltos that once furnished Modernist architectural structures and are now considered valuable archival objects. The juxtaposition of Aalto’s household objects – universally appreciated over time and across cultures – with artworks by contemporary artists who are currently exploring new expressions seems to give new energy to both.

Included in the presented artwork is Woodcuts, a series of work by Noritaka Tatehana that eliminates the traditional notion of a painting’s composition being purely responsive to the rectangular surface of a canvas, pointing instead toward deixis with space and form in an approach described by Donald Judd in his fundamental essay, “Specific Objects.” Judd had a strong interest in architecture and design and was an avid collector of furniture by Aalto. He is known to have considered the use of space to be just as important as the work itself. Guided by the ideas of Judd, innovation in composition is a key component of this collaborative booth.