This floor is themed around the exploration of abstraction and expression in painting. While there is an intermixture of artists from different generations, the presentation serves to highlight the pioneering spirit of artists across the ages. Bernard Frize, in the 1970s, when painting was regarded as becoming an outdated medium, proposed the possibility of it presenting a new world despite its strict constraints of the flat surface and square canvas. Katharina Grosse studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, recognized as a leading force in avant-garde art, and has repeatedly attempted to undermine the conventions of painting through her practice. Leiko Ikemura left Japan to live in European countries including Spain and Germany, where she has expressed herself through painting and sculpture while traversing the different spiritualities of the East and the West. Also introduced are artists such as Oscar Murillo, born in 1986 and winner of the Turner Prize, as well as Jadé Fadojutimi, Misheck Masamvu, and Lauren Quinn. We welcome visitors to look at how the expressions of different generations resonate across the ages.

Beyond the symbolic works of Kohei Nawa, works by Hiroshi Sugimoto lead up the stairs from the first floor, which was divided into sections according to each artist including Mika Tajima and Kanjiro Okazaki. On the second floor are a series of rooms within which the respective visions of various international artists unfold. In addition to Ryan Gander, who reinterprets the everyday world from an ironic perspective; Tracey Emin and Louise Bourgeois, who embody the suppleness of women living in contemporary society; Theaster Gates, who addresses issues confronted by minorities and communities, and leading minimalist artist Dan Flavin, the lineup includes Ryoji Ikeda, Olafur Eliasson, Chiharu Shiota, Mika Tajima, Team Lab, and Takashi Murakami. In the central room, the works of two leading figures of contemporary German photography: Andreas Gursky and Thomas Ruff, are displayed in contrast. We welcome visitors to enjoy contemporary expressions that intersect across different media, means of expression, countries and regions.

Even when living in close proximity or in the same era, the scenery that each person sees and the mental images they depict from it differ accordingly. This floor introduces paintings by Japanese female artists of similar generations. The Showa and Heisei eras could be regarded as having been a period of instability, confusion, and fluctuation as Japanese society found itself in a certain state of maturity. Each artist captured these times through different perspectives. Miyuki Tsugami overlays the events and experiences of the places she visits; Kei Imazu intersects her daily life as an artist with contemporary society surrounded by digital environments; Aki Kondo reminds us of the energy that flows within people and the respective nature of their happiness and Makiko Kudo evokes original landscapes that manifest as a result of the overlapping of everyday memories. While the distance between the work and the individual varies greatly from artist to artist, the works emerge through a mixture of the artist s daily life, surrounding environment, and the original landscapes of their childhood. What is observed beyond the brushstrokes in the paintings is the very image of the artist themselves who have continued in the pursuit of their practice.

This room focuses on change, fluctuation, and the beauty of things that disappear amidst the layers of time. It begins with Hiraki Sawa s work home/home (Absence), in which an array of airplanes flying around evokes a longing gaze that contemplates the expanse of the world beyond the contours of this small room, and the very ephemerality of that dream. Aiko Miyanaga s works made of naphthalene change form through chemical reaction, gradually volatilizing from figurative motifs and transforming into crystals. On the other hand, Ritsue Mishima s glass works appear to capture and immobilize the amorphous forms of glass that becomes fluid at high temperatures, thereby perpetuating the time of the glass itself by using its role as a preservation device. In Tatsuo Miyajima s works featuring LED counters, which repeatedly flicker and change count one after another, only to black out when reaching 0 (zero), evokes the notion of an end and beginning as well as the reincarnation of the soul. Here, visitors are able to catch a glimpse of a world of expression born from the relationship between light, shapes, and their materials.

This floor displays large-scale works by Yoko Matsumoto, who explored acrylic paintings during the era of Japanese abstract expressionism, centered on oil painting. Influenced by abstract expressionism and painting techniques such as ink wash painting, which she encountered in New York in the 1960s, Matsumoto has continued to focus on the manner by which color guides form, rather than adhering to it. The paintings, created with intense energy and her free physicality, carefully layer the elements of light, shade, and colors to give rise to a multitiered space upon the flat surface which bears both a sense of opaqueness and transparency. Avoiding prior calculations and preliminary sketches, she unleashes her freedom and intuition to create various contours and tones from the movements guided by the experiences accumulated in her body. In recent years, Matsumoto s work has been gaining worldwide acclaim, following an exhibition in London. This seems to reflect the current trend for Japanese female artists to be increasingly recognized widely throughout the world.