Kohei Nawa, PixCell-Toy-Apple #3 (2008), mixed media [Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria BC, Jan 29-May 30] Courtesy of the artist and SCAI / Shiraishi Contemporary Art Inc

Yoshiaki Kaihatsu, Happ-En in Hamilton (2008), site-specific installation with disused styrene and milk crates [Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria BC, Jan 29-May 30] Collection of the artist

Great New Wave: Contemporary Art from Japan presents new and recent work by emerging and mid-career artists. Curated by Sara Knelman and Lisa Baldissera as a collaboration between the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the exhibit promotes contemporary Japanese artists as having an acute consciousness of cultural tradition, while simultaneously proposing visions of a globalized future.

The majority of works in Great New Wave: Contemporary Art from Japan are lowkey and conceptual with muted colours and non-representational themes, with a nod to slightly more colourful manga/anime-inspired styles, colour photographs, and funky sculptures. The AGGV show is a scaled-down version of the original Art Gallery of Hamilton exhibit in 2008. It includes the work of six artists, many of whom are showing in Canada for the first time.

Sayaka Akiyamas's embroidered textile-based maps and paper works are particularly striking. They are finely detailed, much like the elaborate and imaginative pen drawings of ncatastrophes by Manabu Ikeda. A female perspective on beauty and ageing, the result of her Internet post soliciting perspectives, is offered by Miwa Yanagi in My Grandmothers. Over the course of a week, artist Yoshiaki Kaihatsu is building an architectural structure using such reclaimed packaging materials as polystyrene. Kohei Nawa has pixellated consumer merchandise that he ordered over the Internet with glass beads. A video animation by Tabaimo explores the darker side of contemporary urban life in Japan.

www.aggv.bc.ca

Mia Johnson