Sarah Morris: Transactional AuthorityNakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka 10:00
Adults ¥1,800, university & high school students ¥1,200, free for junior high & elementary school students
Sarah Morris is one of the most incisive observers of the contemporary metropolis. Born in the UK in 1967 and based in New York, she has since the 1990s developed a distinctive visual language that moves fluidly between painting, film and large-scale architectural interventions.
Known for her glossy geometric abstractions structured by diagrammatic grids, Morris translates systems of power (corporate, political and urban) into vivid compositions that oscillate between order and instability. Her parallel film practice extends this inquiry into moving images, probing the psychological and political undercurrents of cities in constant flux.
For about two months, the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka presents ‘Sarah Morris: Transactional Authority’, the artist’s first retrospective exhibition in Japan and one of the most comprehensive surveys of her work in Asia. Featuring nearly 100 works spanning more than three decades, the exhibition brings together around 40 paintings, all 17 of Morris’s films, drawings and a newly commissioned large-scale wall painting created specifically for the museum.
Organised chronologically, the exhibition traces Morris’s evolving engagement with global cities, from early ‘Sign Paintings’ that reflect social anxiety and control, through the iconic ‘Midtown’ series inspired by Manhattan’s financial architecture, to later works such as the ‘Sound Graph’ and ‘Spiderweb’ series, which explore networks through both technological and organic forms. A highlight is the screening of ‘Sakura’ (2018), filmed in Kansai during cherry blossom season, a work deeply connected to Osaka and to the museum itself.
Note: the exhibition is closed on Mondays (except February 23) and February 24.
