July is for young artists and there are two exhibitions to recommend to you. Both ask seriously: "what is painting?".

From July 1st to 18th there is an exhibition by Toyama Hirotaka called "induce at the point/deduce in the space".

Although only his first solo exhibition he is using both the IAF (Yakuin) and Art Space Tetra Gallery simultaneously.

He will probably investigate the possibility of painting from different aspects through the contrast of the two different places.

From July 24th to August 1st, the artist group P-Factory has an exhibition at Art Space Tetra.

The group comprises 2 Japanese and 3 Americans. "A new possibility for human conciousness and a search for direction" is their theme.

They choose painting as a methodological link between past and future. What the exhibitions have in common is that the participants are willing to grapple with the history of painting. It is sometimes said that painting died with minimalism and conceptual art.

But is that really so?

Giant modern art museums, galleries and media centres are being founded apace.

These exhibitions seek to remind us that we cannot avoid painting in understanding the roots of art. ®