√kContemporary

The building itself is modern and contemporary in design with bare concrete wall, and it is spacious with 300m2 in 1 & 2nd floors, and 180m2 in the basement.

The opening exhibition is “Wall to Wall” by Noriyuki Haraguchi. About 30 works, including the iconic “Oil Pool” were on display on each floor. His spent-oil is filled in a big steel box which is 5m long, 3.8m wide and 70cm deep.

Black cylindrical structure placed in the atrium attracted our attention because of its size (280cm in diameter, 361 m in height). It was powerful and stunning. Others were “Iron Plate”, “Square Box”, “Sailcloth on wall” (sorry, I do not know the exact title of these works). Moreover, wooden poles were arranged on the rooftop. His art works using industrial materials such as steel, oil and aluminum were perfect fit this gallery.

Noriyuki Haraguch was born in Yokosuka-city, Kanagawa Prefecture. Yokosuka is a home port of the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet. He was inspired by materials of militarism and heavy industry and implemented the idea on his paintings and sculptures. 

He graduated from Nihon University, the oil painting department in 1970. It was the time of the rising political turmoil of campus protests and student riots against the Vietnam War and the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. 

Against this background, he felt interested in basic materials and has adopted materials, including beams, pressed-steel car parts, waste oil, polyurethane and rubber to his works. He is a molding artist who stands on a thought called 'Mono school".  In the late 1960's in Japan, an artistic trend in which emphasis was on the natural, unaltered state of the material used. 

Since the early 1960s, Haraguchi’s work has been exhibited extensively in Japan and abroad.

His works are forceful, impressive and make a lasting impression in your heart.

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√k Contemporary 

6 Minamicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

Tel: 03-6280-8808

Toei Subway Oedo-Line, Ushigome-Kagurazaka Station A2 Exit, 5 min. walking