Installation view of the “Gym” sales section of Tokyo Frontline at 3331 Arts Chiyoda, 2011. Photo ART iT.
From Art Fair Tokyo to 101Tokyo Contemporary, Tokyo Photo and G-Tokyo, Tokyo has seen any number of commercial art fairs come and go in recent years, each with its own approach and format, but unfortunately all sharing the same lackluster market results. Happily for Tokyo art watchers – if not the artists and dealers themselves – this trend has not deterred new entries from piling on to the crowded art calendar. The latest to bow is Tokyo Frontline, billed as a “new concept art fair” for contemporary art and photography by organizer and director Shigeo Goto.
Housed in the 3331 Arts Chiyoda building, Tokyo Frontline launches with an invite-only preview tonight, Feb 16, and opens to the public Feb 17. In its “Gym Sales Section” the fair features local and regional participants including Misa Shin Gallery, whose eponymous founder is the former director of Art Fair Tokyo, as well as Mori Yu, MEM and even a participant from Macao, AFA Macao. Additionally, a curated section, also entitled “Frontline,” is devoted to young artists selected from both participating and non-participating galleries, while a third section for “presentation and sales,” “Exchange,” accommodates galleries, publications and organizations. In a statement on the fair website, director Goto wrote that his hope is that within five years Tokyo Frontline can “become one of the main international platforms for contemporary art in Asia.”
Installation view of the “Frontline” exhibition section of Tokyo Frontline at 3331 Arts Chiyoda, 2011. Photo ART iT.
The launch is timed to coincide with the Feb 18 return of the G-Tokyo “boutique” art fair, established in 2010, as well as the Feb 17 preview opening of the 3rd Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions. Furthermore, on Feb 18 galleries including Ota Fine Arts and Wako Works of Art will inaugurate a new art building in the shadow of the Roppongi Hills lifestyle complex, the venue for G-Tokyo and home to the Mori Art Museum.
Tokyo Frontline continues through February 20.