KOSAKU KANECHIKA is pleased to present Noritaka Tatehana’s exhibition, “RETHINK,” from March 6 to April 3, 2021.

This special exhibition presents works by Noritaka Tatehana that are concurrently featuring in the online exhibition “EDO TOKYO RETHINK,” an event organized by the city of Tokyo to exhibit new works with a focus on traditional crafts and industries of Edo era Tokyo. Noritaka Tatehana’s initial inspiration came from his re-evaluation of past Japanese culture. In “RETHINK,” he shows new works that result from a reinterpretation of traditional crafts and industries of Edo era Tokyo.

About the “EDO TOKYO RETHINK” online exhibition

The “Edo Tokyo Kirari Project” seeks to refine technologies and products rooted in the traditions of Edo Tokyo and broadcast them to the world. It has commissioned globally-renowned contemporary artist Noritaka Tatehana to direct the online exhibition “EDO TOKYO RETHINK.” For this exhibition, craftsmen in traditional Tokyo industries work in collaboration with Noritaka Tatehana. Their collaborative projects are released online, featuring images and video of their display in the Marquis Hosokawa Mansion, a Tokyo Cultural Heritage Property in the grounds of Wakeijuku. The exhibited works explore the theme of modern reinterpretations of traditional Japanese culture, otherwise referred to as “RETHINK,” Tatehana’s unique creative process. Tatehana’s artworks highlight the charms and values of Japanese traditional industries through a contemporary approach.

Noritaka Tatehana

Noritaka Tatehana was born in Tokyo in 1985. His family ran a public bathhouse called “Kabuki-yu” in Kabukicho, Tokyo, while he grew up in Kamakura, Japan. As a small child and under the influence of his mother, a doll artist who practiced the Waldorf education method, the artist learned to create with his own hands. Tatehana graduated in 2010 from the Department of Crafts at Tokyo University of Arts, specializing in textile arts. While researching the culture associated with traditional Japanese courtesans, the artist created geta (traditional wooden clogs) and kimonos with yūzen – a traditional Japanese dyeing technique. Tatehana has presented his work in exhibitions such as “Image Makers” (21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, 2014) and “Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion” (The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2012). He has also held various solo exhibitions which include “NORITAKA TATEHANA: Aesthetics of Magic” (Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum, 2016), “It’s always the others who die” (POLA Museum Annex, 2019), and “NORITAKA TATEHANA: Refashioning Beauty” (Portland Japanese Garden, 2019) amongst others held in New York, Paris, and Belgium. Tatehana has also worked on a wide range of projects, including producing a bunraku performance in 2016 at the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris. The artist’s works have been acquired by internationally acclaimed institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.