Reflecting encounters with the nowJapanese contemporary glass 1975－2025

To mark its 10th anniversary, the Toyama Glass Art Museum will stage a special exhibition showcasing Japanese contemporary glass art past and present.

In Japan, the trend among individual artists to make glassworks themselves began to gather momentum in the late 1970s. The backdrop to this reversal of the hitherto more common approach―artists working for companies partnering with artisans who performed the tasks dealing directly with the material―included the establishment of Japan’s first dedicated glass course, at Tama Art University in 1977, and growing international exchange in the glass art field in the wake of the 8th General Assembly and International Conference of the World Crafts Council, held in Kyoto in 1978. Experimenting repeatedly with their material, artists pursued expression that reflected its unique qualities. An unfolding of spatial, large-scale glass expression into the 1990s was followed in the 2000s by a growing preference among artists to develop their own original glass-making techniques, and a burgeoning body of work responding directly to changing social conditions. The result has been even greater diversity in glass-based expression. Looking back on a tumultuous half-century in glass art, this exhibition presenting outstanding pieces typical of each era, alongside expression that evinces exciting new possibilities, is a landmark opportunity to enjoy work after work reflecting the artist’s sense of “now” as it arises from myriad encounters with materials, ideas and more.

Artists