Announcing a New Exhibition at ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE An exhibition to be held under the title of “Let’s Celebrate New Year 2018 with Art Featuring Dogs!”

October 24, 2017

ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) opened ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE in the CI Plaza, a commercial facility situated next to ITOCHU’s Tokyo Headquarters, in October 2012, aspiring to encourage the future generation, contribute to the community and promote art and culture in Japan and abroad as part of its social contribution activities. A number of exhibitions have since been held in the space.

Together with Hakkendo Inc., an art gallery which provides support for young artists, ITOCHU will jointly organize a large-scale exhibition to showcase artworks featuring dogs, which is the animal of the Chinese zodiac for 2018, created by more than 100 young and energetic artists at the ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE. This is an initiative of joint efforts by company and gallery to support artists who have few chances of publicizing their work, from the perspective of encouraging the future generation. This series of exhibitions with the theme of the Chinese zodiac animals has been held since 2015.

With an endorsement from FamilyMart Co., Ltd., this year’s exhibition also features the New Year’s Cards by Young Artists which will be commercialized as a special project of the company’s New Year’s card printing service. Fresh and energetic works of eighteen selected artists will be displayed as celebratory images for the New Year. Originals of these illustrations will also be exhibited for sale in the exhibition.

Please come and take a look at varieties of dog images illustrated by young artists, including active art students who are set to play leading roles in the future art world.

Overview of the exhibition – Let’s Celebrate New Year 2018 with Art Featuring Dogs”

Period Monday, December 4, 2017 – Sunday, December 17, 2017
No holidays during this period.
Hours 11:00 – 19:00
Admission Free
Sponsor Hakkendo Inc.
Co-sponsor ITOCHU Corporation
Special cooperation FamilyMart Co., Ltd., ITOCHU Pulp & Paper Corporation
Cooperation: Art Collectors
Venue ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE
CI Plaza B1, 2-3-1 Kita-aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
TEL & FAX ： 03-5772-2913
URL ： http://www.itochu-artsquare.jp/

Azusa Nakazwa
“Your support will be appreciated.”

Yoahiyuki Kawahara
“Playing football”

Events to be held during the Exhibition

[Let’s make dog pompons!]
Date: Saturday, December 9, 2017, 14:00 – 15:00
Venue: ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE
Entry fee: 1,500 yen, Accept first ten people.
With young creators invited as instructors, participants will make animal pompons with knitting yarns using the dog, the zodiac sign for 2018, as a motif!

[Let’s make original can badges!]
Date: Sunday, December 10 and Saturday, December 16, 2017, 14:00 – 16:00
Venue: ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE
Entry fee: 500 yen, Accept first thirty people for each date.
In this workshop, each participant will make three original can badges with your drawings, under the guidance of young creators.