Rapt! 20 Contemporary Artists from Japan was an ambitious program of exhibitions, residencies and public events showcasing contemporary Japanese art in Australia. Developed by the Japan Foundation in the year of exchange between Australia and Japan, and based on cross-cultural discussions and research by Japanese and Australian curators, Rapt! explored new channels of communication and the dynamic shifts between the ‘self’ and ‘world’ found in modern societies.

MUMA was pleased to present the work of Nobuya Hoki, Tomoaki Ishihara and Yuki Kimura. Nobuya Hoki’s paintings are influenced by traditional style Japanese painting, manga and anime (and executed with his ‘secret pen’), while Hoki’s linear paintings contain a rich diversity of imagery and motifs, including landscape, animals and portraiture. The artist has described his painting technique as ‘adding multiple layers to a single layer’, where distances are exaggerated and scales distorted.

The sculptures, photographs and paintings of Tomoaki Isihara explore the theme of seeing and being seen. In his self-portraits, Ishihara uses an electron microscope to image minute samples of his body and enlarges them to wall-size photographs. In this disruption of scale, the self-portraits become beautiful abstract images representing a universal state of being. His paintings, using Braille and gold leaf, are flooded with darkness or light, and Ishihara's glass sculptures are suspended in mid-air, where a vacuum creates a blind spot in our view of the world/space. Isihara calls into question art’s reliance on the visual, what he calls the ‘blind spot of art’. Kyoto-based artist Yuki Kimura, in preparation for this exhibition, undertook a residency at the Monash University Faculty of Art & Design. Working primarily with video, sculpture and photographic installations, Kimura investigated the transformative meanings of images and objects. In juxtaposing new and found photographic images, Kimura explored the abstract qualities of colour and form, while allowing new narratives to emerge.

In 2006, Rapt! was one of the largest surveys of contemporary Japanese art that had been undertaken in Australia and it presents a significant rethinking of the character of contemporary Japanese art and culture.

Rather than conform to traditional stereotypes of Japan (as either hi-tech or zen), Rapt! highlighted modes of communication that developed over the previous decade in Japan to enable direct connections between individuals and the rest of the world. The work of various contemporary artists suggests the emergence of a new Japanese identity  based on the renegotiation of traditional practices and influences.

Rapt! was a collaborative project undertaken across Australia, involving about sixteen organisations in presenting different facets of a single project. In addition to MUMA’s exhibition, other venues included the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP); Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces; Kings ARI; RMIT Project Space; Spacement; West Space; Seventh Gallery; and Object Gallery, Sydney.

Acknowledgements:
This exhibition was developed by the Japan Foundation.

Exhibition Catalogue:
Rapt! 20 Contemporary Artists from Japan

^{Image: Rapt! 20 Contemporary Artists from Japan, installation view, Switchback Gallery, Gippsland Centre for Art and Design, Vic. 2006}