Upcoming Exhibitions

The following exhibitions are currently scheduled for The Contemporary Museum at Makiki Heights. All exhibition dates, titles and content are subject to change. Please check back often for new or updated listings.

At 20: The Sharon and Thurston Twigg-Smith Collection of H.C. Westermann—A Gift/Promised Gift in Honor of The Contemporary Museum’s 20^th Anniversary

December 18, 2008 – February 22, 2009

Makiki Heights Galleries - Organized by TCM; Curator: James Jensen, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Collections

In September Honolulu collectors and TCM trustees Sharon and Thurston Twigg-Smith made known that their collection of the works by H.C. Westermann, one of the finest and most comprehensive private holdings of the artist’s works, will have its permanent home at The Contemporary Museum.  This extraordinary collection, which comprises one painting, 16 sculptures, 13 drawings/watercolors and 34 prints and spans from an early 1949 self-portrait to one of the artist’s last and most monumental works, has been sought by several mainland museums.  Through the generosity of the Twigg-Smiths, The Contemporary Museum will have one of the most in-depth representations of Westermann’s work in a public collection (the other is at The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago; another major public collection is at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago). A selection of the highlights will be on view.  Curator James Jensen will present a walk-through lecture about the exhibition on January 24 at 11 a.m.  This program is free with admission.

Toshiko Takaezu Ceramics: Gifts from the Artist in Honor of The Contemporary Museum’s 20^th Anniversary and Promised Gifts from Hawaii Collections

January 16, 2008 – February 22, 2009

Makiki Heights Galleries - Organized by TCM; Curator: James Jensen, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Collections

Hawaii-born Toshiko Takaezu, recognized internationally as one of the innovators and masters of contemporary ceramic art, has had a long association with The Contemporary Museum, beginning with an exhibition of her work in 19 at the Honolulu Advertiser Gallery.  Over the years, many of her works have been donated to TCM.  This exhibition will feature these gifts. In addition, the exhibition will include other Takaezu works from local private collections, which are gifts and promised gifts to TCM in honor of the artist and of the museum’s 20^th anniversary.

Japan Fantastic  (PLEASE NOTE: THIS EXHIBITION HAS BEEN CANCELLED)

December 13, 2008 – March 15, 2009   (CANCELLED)

20 Going On 21:  Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Present, Looking to the Future

 An Exhibition of Hawaii Artists

March 19 – June 21, 2009

Makiki Heights Galleries

Curated by TCM Curator Jay Jensen and Inger Tully

As The Contemporary Museum moves from its 20th anniversary to its 21st, TCM will mark the occasion by returning to its beginnings with an exhibition of works by contemporary artists of Hawaii. TCM had its origins in The Honolulu Advertiser Gallery (later Contemporary Arts Center of Hawaii), which opened in October 1961 in the News Building. The gallery was the idea of Thurston Twigg-Smith, then general manager of The Honolulu Advertiser who recognized the need for a space dedicated to exhibitions of works by Hawaii's contemporary artists. As the institution formalized, developed and expanded over the years, The Honolulu Advertiser Gallery/Contemporary Arts Center became The Contemporary Museum, opening in a new home in the Cooke-Spalding estate in Makiki Heights in October 1988.

For 20 Going on 21 TCM invited the past TCM Biennial Exhibition invited artists (52 in eight Biennials) to each nominate up to five contemporary Hawaii artists who they feel are accomplished or emerging to be considered for the exhibition (fellow Biennial artists were not eligible to be nominated). The nominees were then invited to submit examples of their work to be juried by a panel of three individuals, Melissa Chiu, Gallery Director and Vice-President for Global Art Programs at the Asia Society in New York; Lawrence Rinder, Director of the University Art Museum, Berkeley, California; and Joseph Havel, artist and Director of the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas. The jurors met and selected 20 artists to be included in the exhibition. Following the selection of the artists by the jury, TCM Deputy Director of Exhibitions and Collections James Jensen and Exhibitions Curator Inger Tully are visiting the artists to select the works to be presented in the exhibition. In addition, they will select one additional or 21st artist to be included in 20 Going on 21. A catalogue will be published in conjunction with the exhibition.

The selected artists are: Derek Bencomo, Andrew Binkley, Dana Forsberg, Karen Gally, Jaisy Hanlon, Keiko Hatano, Vince Hazen, Lynda Hess, Ryan Higa, Corinne Kamiya, Sanit Khewhok, Jeeun Kim, Mat Kubo, Stephen Lang, Hal Lum, Mark Maresca, Tom Sewell, Bruna Stude, Lynne Yamamoto, Charles Yuen, and Wayne Miyamoto. This exhibition is sponsored by a special group of supporters including LeBurta Atherton, Duke Bainum Foundation, Diane Chen KW and Jan Kock-Weser, Timothy Y.C. Choy, Kay and Tom Dunton, Elizabeth and Richard Grossman, Randolph G. Moore and Lynne Johnson, Carol and Malcom Koga, Jim and Lynn Lally, Violet Loo, Maria O'Reilly, Michael and Trish O'Neill, Judy Pyle and Wayne Pitluck, Joanna Sullivan, and Betty and Robert Ching Wo. The exhibition has also been supported in part by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, with in-kind support provided by Sony Hawaii and the Waikiki Parc Hotel.

Yoshihiro Suda

July 11 – October 25, 2009

Makiki Heights Galleries

Organized by TCM; Curator: James Jensen, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Collections
 

Japanese artist Yoshihiro Suda (born 1969) is internationally known for his installations of delicate carved and painted wooden plant life. Suda's sculptures of indigenous Japanese plants and flowers, including camellias, magnolias, and roses, as well as common weeds, are meticulously created with surprising realism and in true-to-life scale that at times borders on the miniscule. The artist carves these fragile pieces from magnolia wood before hand-painting them with traditional Japanese pigments to produce exact replicas of these natural flowers. This exhibition will be Suda’s first solo show in the United States.

As works of installation art they are modest, effacing, and at times nearly invisible. Yet these carvings have an overwhelming presence that dominates their surroundings. His manner of exhibiting works in unexpected locations urges the viewer to rediscover the work's surrounding environment and architectures with fresh eyes and to experience spaces anew. As such there is a temporal, even performative, aspect to his artistic practice. Ultimately Suda locates significance in the moments of encounter between the environment, the sculpted form, and the viewer. 

"I do not intend to concentrate merely on creating realistically. I am interested in things that are created by and messed with the hand - so much so that the work becomes dirty from too much handling. The reason why I am attracted to things created by people, is probably because I am human. However, it is impossible to see only the things that are created in such a way. When one sees something, there is no way he can eliminate the space surrounding it. Then, I must consider the work to be more important than the space--making something that does not exist, exist in a certain place, and making a time exist only in a certain situation. That ‘thing’ for me now, is a plant sculpted from wood," said Suda.

For his exhibition at The Contemporary Museum, the artist will be making several new works based on tropical flowers that are found in Hawaii. This exhibition is sponsored in part by The Hara Fund and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

20^th Anniversary Gifts and Promised Gifts

November 21, 2009 – February 21, 2010

Makiki Heights Galleries

Organized by TCM; Curator: James Jensen, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Collections

An exhibition of gifts and promised gifts featuring highlights of artworks donated or indicated as promised gifts to The Contemporary Museum concluding the celebration of TCM’s 20th anniversary year.