Art in Japan>Contemporary Art 1930-2004>Shinkawa Gallery Complex

Original articles on art, artists, architecture, exhibitions, galleries, museums and cultural institutions around Tokyo, Japan.

Shinkawa Gallery Complex

by John McGee

Gallery Koyanagi viewing room (artwork by Thomas Ruff)
(Photos: John McGee)

In one of the most exciting recent events for Tokyo’s contemporary art scene, four of the city’s premier art galleries opened the new Shinkawa Gallery Complex on January 31, 2003. Hundreds of people—artists, writers, collectors, students —attended the opening, packing the sparkling white galleries until they spilled into the loading dock entrance and out into the street. 

The history of the complex is short, but a bit complicated. Tomio Koyama Gallery and Rice Gallery (a since dissolved Gallery Koyanagi and ShugoArts collaboration) were forced out of the Shokuryo Building in Sagacho at the end of last year (see this article) and needed a new space. Taka Ishii decided to join them, moving from Otsuka. The four galleries found their new home across the Sumida River from Saga-cho in Shinkawa, a gentrified bit of shitamachi (old town) near Kayabacho. 

Exterior of Shinkawa Gallery Complex 

The three-story former paper warehouse holds a total of five gallery spaces: ShugoArts and Gallery Koyanagi Viewing Room (mainly storage for their Ginza gallery) on the second floor; Taka Ishii Gallery and Tomio Koyama Gallery on the first; and TKG Project Room (a space for young artists run by Koyama) in the basement (shared with Kido Press, a woodblock printer) in the basement. Built circa 1959, the Shinkawa building lacks the Shokuryo’s charming old world courtyard, brick facade and arched windows. But, according to Shugo Satani of ShugoArts, the Shokuryo’s atmosphere wasn’t always a good thing. “Many artworks couldn’t work in the environment because the building’s personality was so strong,” said Satani. 

The Shinkawa building, on the other hand, looks like a professional gallery complex—internal pillars hold up high ceilings, a raw concrete stairwell connects the floors, and each of the understated but undeniably cool gallery interiors was designed by a different Japanese architect. At the opening, several visitors commented that it reminded them of Chelsea, one of New York’s gallery districts. “Many people say that they had been expecting this kind of building,” said Satani, “many more than we thought.” 

Though there were some misty eyes at the “Emotional Site” closing exhibition for the Shokuryo last November, the gallerists say that they’re glad they moved. Reasons include larger spaces for Koyama (50%) and Ishii (150%) and commodious offices. Also, ShugoArts has its first dedicated space and Koyanagi gets storage. 

Entrance to Taka Ishii Gallery;

The complex isn’t perfect—it’s a ten-minute walk from the station and the river sends a shivering wind down Eitai Dori. And it makes you realize how small the commercial contemporary art scene in Tokyo really is. 

But Shinkawa does two important things. It consolidates several quality galleries in one accessible place. And it inserts a crucial link in a new cultural axis running through the city. (Get out a map.) The Hibiya line connects Kayabacho to Ginza’s galleries and museums, to Roppongi’s Mori Art Museum and new gallery complex, to Ebisu’s Museum of Photography, and to Naka-Meguro area art galleries like Mizuma. Moreover, Kayabacho is the transfer point for the Tozai line, only two stops from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (MoT). It’s a nice combination, at least until the lease on Shinkawa is up in a few years and they all have to move again.

[Update: This gallery complex was closed in 2005 and most of the galleries moved into a new complex in Kiyosumi, Koto-ku, Tokyo.]

©2006 John McGee

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