Nichido Gallery celebrated its 80th founding anniversary last spring. This exhibition showcases work by 150 selected Showakai artists working mostly in contemporary yoga (Western style) painting.

This exhibition introduces works by Joshibi Art University graduates who have been active in photography and graphics. Works and messages with a uniquely feminine viewpoint will be on display. This exhibition is simultaneously held at Daikoku-ya Gallery in Ginza (03-3571-0008) and Joshibi Galeria Nike in Shin Nakano (03-5340-6671), each venue presenting different works by the artists.

Eugène Ionesco was a Romania-born playwright and the representative of post-war French "Dramas of the Absurd". Since his debut in 1950 with "Bald Female Singer", his other works such as "Class", "Chair", "Rhino" and "the Dying King" have all enjoyed long runs at the Theater Huchette in Paris, while many of his works came to Japan, greatly influencing its contemporary theater world. Ionesco depicted ordinary lives of people with his grotesque sense of humor, while questioning fundamental tragic nature of humans to finally materialize "meaningless existence". The abstrusity of his work was so extreme that the phrase "it's beyond comprehension just like Ionesco's play" became popular in France. In the late 1970s, Ionesco started suffering from neurosis, and painting became one of his therapeutic methods. Unlike his "incomprehensive" plays, paintings he created after turing 60 are full of free-wheeling touch and colors reminiscent of children's scribbles. Please enjoy 10 lithography works by this litterateur.

"Cache-cache": French for hide-and-seek. Exhibition of 17 creators working in graphics, illustration, painting, comics, product, craft and interiors.

This exhibition is organized to commemorate the worldwide premiere of the "Chronicles of Narnia: The Caspian King's Hunting Horn". The movie features rising Hollywood star Ben Burns as the Caspian King, a good-looker with the dignity and charisma needed to play a royal, as well, earning him legions of female fans around the world. This exhibition features the costumes and props used on the set during filming, as well as storyboards, sketch panels and images.

Room021 by Ozi Design Works Inc. is presenting the Teachers' 2nd solo exhibition. Colorful and original sundry articles such as bags, tapestries, scrunchies, pouches, wallets and velts will be on sale. Anybody can attend a workshop as well! -Workshop "Let's Make Teruteru-Bozu" A workshop to make teruteru-bozu (a doll to which children pray for fine weather) with cute fabrics before the beginning of the rainy season. Dates & Time: Everyday during exhibition period. 12:00-18:00 (until 16:00 on the last day) Fee: ¥2000 (including material cost)

This exhibition will be held in Gallery and Studio B. D Hwang will be resident at Youkobo during the exhibition period. Opening party: May 16th (Fri), 17:00-20:00

Exhibiting the artist's work on the theme of "Custom 'em All".

This exhibition aims to reenact the representative postwar photographer Tadahiko Hayashi's past exhibition "Time of Kasutori" held at old Fuji Photo Salon in August 1980, based on the photo panels and documentary photos used at that time. "Kasutori" was coarse alcohol illicitly manufactured with rice and potatoes right after World War II. This exhibition showcases Hayashi's 86 monochrome photographs of the ruins and black market that all mirror the social condition of such a tumultuous postwar period when Kasutori prevailed.

The artist has depicted imaginary scenery with abundant nature around his atelier as his motifs. For this exhibition, he portrayed distant view from a window and flowers in a garden with delicate brushwork. Approximately 20 works in various sizes will be on display. [Image: "Voice of the Mountains" Watercolor on paper 45.3 × 38.0cm]

A look at contemporary art from the UK, divided into three periods - the 1980s, 90s, and 2000 onwards. Simultaneous Japanese-English interpretation will be provided for the 1st and 2nd lectures 1st lecture: Junichi Shiota, who has spent many years researching British contemporary art - from "expanded sculpture" to New British Sculpture - as well as planning and curating exhibitions on the subject, will give a talk on the art scene during the 1980s. Date and time: May 17th (Sat) 14:00-16:00 Speaker: Junichi Shiota (assistant director, Teien Metropolitan Art Museum) Moderator: Eriko Osaka (artistic director, Mori Art Museum) 2nd lecture: "YBAs: from Britpop to Cool Britannia" Yoshitaka Mori, who spent a great deal of time in 1990s London, will take a look back at the activities of the Young British Artists (YBAs) of the time. Date and time: June 8th (Sun) 14:00-16:00 Speaker: Yoshitaka Mori (assistant professor, music and acoustic environment department, Tokyo Geidai University) Moderator: Kenichi Endo (assistant curator, Mori Art Museum) Venue: Academy Hills 49F (Mori Tower 49F) Organizers: Mori Art Museum, Academy Hills Limited to 120 persons Fee: Regular ¥1000, Students and MAMC members ¥500 3rd lecture: "Post-YBA: British Art Now" (Japanese only) Phenomena in the British contemporary art scene from the past 10 years or so, such as the opening and runaway success of the Tate Modern and a new generation of post-YBAs, will be discussed. Date and time: June 24th (Tue) 19:00-21:00 Speaker: Roger McDonald (independent curator) Moderator: Kenichi Endo (assistant curator, Mori Art Museum) Venue: Mori Art Museum 53F Gallery Limited to 100 persons (reservation necessary) Fee: ¥500 (admission to exhibition required) Those interested in attending should make a reservation directly with the Mori Art Museum on their website.

Imazu, Iwano and Tsukamoto work with an ostensibly flat surface, creating a different space with a sense of spatial depth. Abe, Shiozu and Morimoto blend handiwork and digital effects to achieve their unique 2D work. Taking "ex-surface" (expanding interface) as their motif, these six artists work to deconstruct the surfaces of their chosen media using special techniques that reflect their personal sense of the world. Opening reception: May 17th (Sat) 18:00-

Isabelle Adjani as an enigmatic woman who disappears after killing a wealthy man.

Asia's biggest international art event "Design Festa" with over 60,000 people attending! Design Festa is a freestyle International Art Event open to all artists, both professional and non-professional from all over the world to exhibit their creative talent. Design Festa started in 1994 and as of December 2006 it has successfully completed 25 events as well as 3 sub-events. This art event is held twice a year at Tokyo Big Sight, the biggest event hall in Japan. Design Festa is the ideal place for passionate artists who are looking for a great opportunity to show their artwork to a very large audience from all over the world.

Photographer Jiro Omura went around the world taking photographs of the different varieties of coffee, tea, alcohol and tobacco consumed by locals. Over 130 works are on display.

About 40 years ago, textile designers almost never paid attention to patterns of their work, settling on simple motifs like small flowers and animals. Wakisaka moved to the U.S. and Europe around that time and worked for Marimekko and Jack Lenor Larsen. He then made a contract with Wacoal Interior Fabric, introducing new and novel textile desings. Wakisaka has been one and only textile artist so far who worked for all of these world's leading corporations. Textiles and original drawings Wakisaka designed, centering on the museum collection, will be on display. This exhibition aims to seek the origin of his designs by looking back at what he felt and expressed in his days in Finland, the U.S. and Japan.

Opening Party (with secret guest): May 17th (Sat) 18:00- Talk event with guest : May 24th 19:00- "Go for Future" with "future artist" Ichiro Endo, May 31st (Sat) 19:00- Closing event: June 8th (Sun), 19:00- Held concurrently with this event is the "Green Leaves - Seed" exhibition at Gallery Fall in Nishi Ogikubo from May 28th - June 8th. Open 12:00-20:00 (closed Mon and Tue). #102 Nishiogi Kita 3-18-10, Suginami-ku, Tokyo Tel/fax: 03-5856-0522

The Drunk Salaryman Photo Exhibition! Live music by Douglas Lee from China, DJ's Touch of Pink, Crustacean, Miki, and Photo Exhibition of Drunk Salaryman by Scott Larson. Free entry, and wear a tie around your head for a free glass of wine!