The Will to Work!

Those looking for work are not finding it and those even with work are having a hard time making ends meet.  As global recession stalls Japanese economy, we are required to look for alternatives different from before when economic development was considered the single most important goal.  These days more people are starting to look into building new careers in fishing industry or agriculture.  In this age of paradigm shift, we invite you to explore and reconsider what it means to work through the works on display, which depict the quintessential forms of labor, such as fishing and tilling the earth and heavy physical work. 

In Asian art, individual artists began to employ daily work as a subject matter in paintings after the modern period.  While labor was praised in artworks during the socialist era, in the age of mass production and consumption, artists, faced with the sight of prostrated workers, created works as a means to send a warning to the society.  Through 27 artworks showing various workers sweating away at fishing, farming or industrial sites, this exhibition seeks to provide an opportunity to reflect on how we ourselves engage with work today.