Return to Japan | Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Return to Japan

2001. Opens first solo exhibition in Japan, his largest-scale solo show to date: I DON’T MIND, IF YOU FORGET ME. at the Yokohama Museum of Art. The show travels to five venues in Japan until 2002, including his hometown, Hirosaki.

Begins an autobiographical essay series, “Little Star Dweller” in the December issue of H (ROCKIN’ON); the series extends through 2004.

2002. Travels to Afghanistan for FOIL magazine’s “No War” special issue. Takes part in the group exhibition Drawing Now: Eight Propositions, MoMA QNS, New York.

2003. Meets creative Unit graf, an Osaka-based design company, and begins producing jointly installations of little houses built with used materials.

2005. Provides artwork for the album Banging the Drum by Bloodthirsty Butchers, a Japanese alternative rock band who are also his close friends. On commission from the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art creates a work with the image of the atomic bomb dropping in mind: Missing in Action—Girl Meets Boy—.

2006. Creates a large-scale sculptural piece entitled Aomori-ken (Aomori dog) for the opening of the Aomori Museum of Art. Moves his base to Nasushiobara in Tochigi prefecture and sets up a studio.

2007. Solo exhibitions created together with graf continue in Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, and other countries.