Andy Akiho's Sculptures is available now on major streaming services. The live performance by Andy Akiho and the Oregon Symphony, featuring Jun Kaneko's sculptures as instruments, will be at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, November 4-6, 2023. Tickets are available now.
See Jun Kaneko & Kiki Smith September 1 - October 31, 2023 at Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID.
Get updates on new public art projects in the USA, Canada, and Japan, and learn how you can experience Jun Kaneko's artwork even closer to home.
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After the smashing success of the Omaha Symphony's Kaneko & Akiho this past March, composer Andy Akiho will be performing his composition Sculptures, inspired by Jun Kaneko's artwork, at the Oregon Symphony later this fall. Meanwhile, the studio is abuzz with preparations for three new exhibitions opening this summer.
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Jun Kaneko closed out 2022 with the completion of his largest bronze sculpture to date, Dream, installed at the newly renovated Gene Leahy Mall in Omaha, Nebraska. The studio also completed building four 11-ft dangos in December. Looking forward into the new year, preparations are underway for Omaha Symphony's "Kaneko & Akiho" in March 2023.
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A major new solo exhibition of Jun Kaneko's work opened in October at the Portland Japanese Garden (Oregon). In November, Kaneko also welcomed composer Andy Akiho for another visit to the studio, where they collaborated on some of the exciting audio and video components of Akiho's project for the Omaha Symphony. We look forward to discovering how the recordings of sounds from around the studio will be integrated into the production,"Kaneko & Akiho" in March of 2023.
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The Jun Kaneko Studio Newsletter for Summer 2022 is now available.
Planning continues for several upcoming exhibitions, including at the Portland Japanese Garden (Oregon) and Gerald Peters Gallery (Santa Fe, NM). In August, the studio welcomes a visit from GRAMMY-nominated composer Andy Akiho, who is drawing inspiration from Kaneko's artwork for a new original composition premiering with Omaha Symphony next spring. Amidst all this activity, Jun Kaneko has been working on a variety of new ceramic artworks at his Omaha studio.
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The combined Jun Kaneko Studio Newsletter for Winter 2021 / Spring 2022 is now available.
The last Tanuki sculptures ever made have emerged from the glaze kiln; see these new works and more! We're also excited to announce a special 2023 event with the Omaha Symphony.
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The Jun Kaneko Studio Fall 2021 newsletter is now available.
Jun Kaneko finishes work on some of his final Tanuki sculptures while preparing to receive the International Sculpture Center's annual Lifetime Achievement Award for 2021. This issue features several current and upcoming exhibitions including Jun's solo show at KANEKO coinciding with 2021's annual Soirée.
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The Jun Kaneko Studio Summer 2021 newsletter is now available.
Jun Kaneko has returned to his Omaha studios from his most recent Raku session in Cuernavaca. The studio has been busy preparing multiple exhibitions, including at Locks Gallery in Philadelphia, and public art installations in Hyogo, Japan, Omaha, Nebraska, and more. This issue features Kaneko's latest "chunk" sculptures, and a look back at 1980 when Jun Kaneko, Terry Allen, and Annabeth Rosen's paths crossed at Cranbrook Academy of Art.
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The Jun Kaneko Studio Spring 2021 newsletter is now available.
Jun Kaneko is currently working on raku ceramic sculptures in Mexico. The studio has been busy shipping out copies of Jun Kaneko: The Space Between, putting the finishing touches on the newly launched Ree & Jun Kaneko Foundation website, creating new artworks, and planning exhibitions and public art projects that we look forward to sharing with you.
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The Jun Kaneko Studio Winter 2020 newsletter is now available.
Check out Jun Kaneko's new large-scale work at the studio, Raku work in Mexico, installation at Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House in Buffalo, NY, new publications, and much more.
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Exhibitions at Gerald Peters Gallery and Otterbein University, Origin installation, Madama Butterfly's return to Opera Omaha, and more:
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This newsletter covers upcoming exhibitions, as well as public art projects.
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Jun Kaneko’s painting series Mirage will be presented in the 2017 Armory Show’s new Platform section. Curated by Eric Shiner, the first annual Platform section will focus on large-scale works, installations, and site-specific pieces. Kaneko’s Mirage is to be featured along with eleven other works by artists Abel Barroso, Patricia Cronin, Douglas Coupland, Olga de Amaral, Dorian Gaudin, Per Kirkeby, Yayoi Kusama, Iván Navarro, Fiete Stolte, Lawrence Weiner, and Ai Weiwei.
Mirage will be the inaugural installation of the new VIP Lounge now located on Pier 92. This nine-panel work can be seen at the Armory Show, New York’s premier art fair, from March 2-5, 2017.
This newsletter covers recent, current and upcoming exhibitions, as well as public art projects, upcoming Opera performances, and KANEKO events.
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We are pleased to announce that Jun Kaneko's designs for The Magic Flute will be included in the upcoming traveling exhibition, Magical Designs for Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” Organized by Kent State University Museum, in collaboration with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the exhibition was curated by acclaimed curator Judy Levin.
Magical Designs for Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” will feature a group of eighteen historical and contemporary productions lauded for their design and staging. Jun’s designs will be shown along with those done by Marc Chagall, David Hockney, Julie Taymor, Oskar Kokoschka, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Achim Freyer, Karel Appel, Maurice Sendak, Gerald Scarfe, Philip Prowse, John Conklin, and William Kentridge.
Currently the exhibition is on view at the New York Public Library and will travel next to Kent State University.
This newsletter covers the most recent Raku firing in Cuernavaca, an outdoor exhibition at Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Opera news, and a Tanuki on it's way to the Nihondaira Zoo in Shizuoka, Japan.
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The most recent production of Jun Kaneko's production design was a great sucess at Opera Omaha. The new design features new set and costume elements.
Our most recent newsletter covered a Raku firing in Cuarnavaca Mexico, public art projects, exhibition openings, and the latest production of Fidelio.
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Sokyo Gallery opened its doors this weekend for an exhibition of Jun Kaneko's latest Constructions, small Dangos, and Ovals. The exhibition opened on October 31st and will run through December 25th. More information about the Sokyo Gallery and this exhibition can be found on their website.
Click here to view a video in Japanese about Jun Kaneko, his work, and his life.
On the winter solstice, December 21st at 5:03PM, the central element of Jun's most recent public art commission was illuminated with over 4,800 LED lights at a dedication ceremony hosted by the Lincoln Partenrs for Public Art Development (LPPAD) and the Lincoln Parks and Recreation. View full article.
Each night the tower is illuminated from 7pm to 2am, and it is lit again from 6am to 9am.
Winter illumination hours: 5pm to 2am and 5am to 8am.
After 5 years and countless hours spent planning, engineering, meeting and coordinating, Tower Square is completed. The final panels were installed September 16, by a installation team put together by Derix Glass Studio and Metallbau-Wimmer. The team worked on site for eight days to erect "Ascent". For more information, View Journal Star article
Artists statement:
"A column is a historically stable and visually dynamic shape with its obscured side encouraging our natural inclination to move around the artwork and discover other perspectives. It invites viewers to join the flowing movement stimulated by the paving design emanating in concentric circles from the tower. Like a Japanese Zen garden, the alternating dark and light rings of pavers are a contemporary and utilitarian rendering of the light and shadow created by the rake patterns in ancient rock garden design.
The glass panels that facet the tower carry a pattern of vibrant densely ordered triangles spiraling up around the tower gradually dissipating as they rise. This composition references the urban environment in the greater envelope of nature. Triangles shift in rhythms of street level activity and vertical stripes reflect the tall alternating corridors of the urban architecture. These rising angels of color carry the eye up towards the sky, the future and hope. The composition resonates the energetic play of diversity within the unity of the city's cultural heritages and multifaceted community.
I balanced the prominent visual energy of the tower with a human-scale indigo blue arcing tile wall that cusps the space immediate to the tower and balances it with the overall plaza area similar to the base notes of a musical composition." © Jun Kaneko 2014
Photo Credit: Susan Schonlau
Jun Kaneko's glass, bronze, and ceramic work is currently on display at the Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe.
View the Gerald Peters Gallery website | Read review
More information and tickets can be found here.
This Sunday marked Opening night for Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco.
Read the Examiner.com review | Read the San Jose Mercury News review | Read the San Francisco Chronicle review | Read the Opera Warhorses review | Read the Stage and Cinema review | Read the Bay Area Reporter Review
This Newsletter highlights Jun Kaneko's latest production design of Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
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This Saturday marked opening night for The Magic Flute at The Washington National Opera at the John F. Kennedy center. Check out the articels and reviews below! Watch a video preview.
View The Washington Post article: PDF
The Washington Post, Jun's interview with Anne Midgette: read the interview | The Washington Post : read the article | The Washington Post Express: read the article
DC Metro Theatre Arts: read review | Broadway World: read review | Ten-year-old Elvin Canales for the Washignton Post: read review | The Baltimore Sun: read review
The Washington Post: read the review for the alternate cast
Photo Credit: Scott Suchman
This newsletter covers the completion of multiple public art projects, Jun Kaneko's production design of The Magic Flute in San Francisco, and two exhibitions.
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Locks Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of ceramic works by the artist Jun Kaneko, alongside video excerpts of the artist's opera design for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute. The exhibition will be on view May 2 through 31, 2014 with an opening reception on Friday, May 2nd from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. The exhibition highlights the imaginative color palettes along with the bold and organic patterns that have become a creative signature for Kaneko's interdisciplinary aesthetic.
Lenore Metrick-Chen interviews Jun Kaneko about the convorsation and space between artwork, environment, and artist. This interview can be heard here.
This article, written by John Dorfman, focuses on influences identified by Jun Kaneko that effect his work as well as exploring how the artist became "one of the key figures in the American contemporary ceramics movement". View full PDF.
In 2009, Jun began a new collaboration with the San Francisco Opera for a new production of Mozart’s Magic Flute. In 2012, the opera opened in San Francisco to great critical and popular acclaim. The next performance of the Magic Flute will take place in May 2014 at The Washington National Opera at The John F. Kennedy Center. Magic Flute will be performed on May 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18. Tickets are on sale!
Further Information about the Magic Flute Performances may be found here.
Organized in conjunction with The Magic Flute, an indoor exhibition will be open to the public from April 8th to May 19th, at the Hall of Nations. More information
This curated, biennial bay front exhibition featuring eighteen large-scale works by eight highly acclaimed artists of regional, national and international renown, is on exhibit throughout Sarasota, Florida’s stunning downtown Bayfront Park from November 16, 2013 through May 2014.
A story on Jun Kaneko with correspondent Mo Rocca will be featured on CBS Sunday Morning News on August 11, 2013.
It’s March 17, 2006, and the applause in Omaha’s Orpheum Theater is deafening. The stage lights have just darkened, ending the world premiere of a new production of Madama Butterfly.
The performers and conductors take their bows. Then, slowly, from the side of the stage, comes the man responsible for making the night – Jun Kaneko. The artist is dressed in black, a stark contrast to his costume and set designs, which are dominated by in-your-face reds, blues, greens, and yellows. He smiles, shyly brushing tousled gray hair from his face; while he’s no stranger to success, a standing ovation is a new experience. Best known for his large, whimsical ceramic sculptures, Kaneko has work in more than 70 museum collections; he has executed more than 50 public art commissions. But this is his first foray onto the stage.
Public installation of thirteen of Mission Clay Pittsburg Project Dangos and twenty-two new figurative Tanuki sculptures
Millennium Park Boeing Galleries: April 12 - November 4, 2013
view north gallery | view south gallery | view press release 2 | view press release 1 | view chicago sun-times article | view curatorial statement
Go behind the scenes as Omaha artist Jun Kaneko proposes startling costumes and groundbreaking animation for a beloved opera.
watch the video
An installation of five dangos are on display at the Principal Riverwalk, on the westside of the Des Moines River on the Hub Spot Plaza on Water Street and Court Avenue, in Des Moines Iowa.
Listing of various reviews from San Francisco Opera's production of The Magic Flute - Costumes, Sets and Lighting Designed by Jun Kaneko.
San Jose Mercury News - read review
San Francisco Chronicle - read review
San Francisco Classical Voice - read review
Opera Today - read review
Operaville - read review
Broadway World - read review
San Francisco Examiner - read review
SFist.com - read review
The Wall Street Journal - read review
Square Cylinder - read review
Bach Track - read review
The Petrelis Files - read review
During June and July, the Rena Bransten Gallery will present a selection of drawings, paintings, and sculpture by Jun Kaneko. The exhibition will run concurrently with Kaneko’s new production design for San Francisco Opera’s Magic Flute, opening mid-June.
