Japan and Mekong Art: Art Theory in Their Religious Views Mekong-Japan Exchange Year 10th Anniversary Exhibition

Japan and Mekong Art: Art Theory in Their Religious Views
Mekong-Japan Exchange Year 10th Anniversary Exhibition

Nobutoshi Akao, Senior Adviser, Geibun Association

World Art and Culture exchange (WAC) held an exhibition entitled Japan and Mekong Art, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Mekong-Japan Exchange Year, in its Oedo Nihonbashi Gallery from February 16 to 22, 2019.
This competitive exhibition gathered 22 works by Japanese artists consisting of eight Western-style paintings, one print art, one Japanese-style painting, three ink paintings, one sculpture and eight calligraphies. At the same time, Mekong artists submitted six Western-style works by Prof. Amrit Chuswan, the former Dean of the Faculty of Art of National Silpakorn University (Thailand), Bounpaul Phothyzan (Laos), Truong Phi Duc, Phan Hoang (Vietnam) and Min Han Pyone (Myanmar), and besides, one photograph by Kyaw Min Htin (Myanmar). *
＊Artists from Cambodia did not attend.
We also welcomed Mr. Nobutoshi Akao, Senior Advisor of WAC and former Ambassador of Japan to Thailand, as a special guest, accepting a photograph by him.
The number of visitors was about 120 for a week, which suggests tremendous responses to this exhibition.

Gallery Talk

On the second day, we held gallery talk on Japanese arts by Prof. Amrit Chusuwan. After Mr. Nobutoshi Akao’s welcome speech, he presented his unembellished analysis and observation on each of the works on exhibit. His commentary on each artwork lasted for about three minutes, which could have made us feel a little long. However, all artists and visitors seemed to have been deeply impressed with his sharp observation, forgetting the elapse of time.
“This exhibition would eventually be held not only in Japan but in each capital of the Mekong basin,”Prof. Amrit Chusuwan said before he left Tokyo.