Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery has been introducing its art collection in a series of exhibition From the Collectionat Gallery 3 and 4 since its opening in 1999. Present exhibition Works from the Soil: Life Meets the Mother Earth in the Collectionis the first time to expand From the Collectionto show the dynamism of our collection in a larger scale using all of our galleries. Our collection, acquired by Mr. Terada Kotaro, one of the associates in the founding of Tokyo Opera City, holds up to 2,600 artworks including oils, Japanese-style paintings, prints, drawings and three-dimensional works. With a central focus on works of Nambata Tatsuoki and Fumio, pillar artists of post-war art in Japan, the collection is put together under two themes of “Oriental Abstraction” and “Black and White.” Our recent exhibition gives another cross-section to the collection by selecting “Soil and Earth” as the key word. “Soil and Earth,” as an accumulation of energy and cultivation basis of life, has been the mother of imagination and creation for humankind at the same time. We will face the dynamism through different artworks in our collection, which will lead us find all the root of matters and things. The exhibition is composed of nearly 130 artworks such as contemporary ceramics symbolically representing earth as an origin of life, nature and things. Also included are paintings of landscapes, imagined scenery and flora and fauna with sprit based on climate. Various expressions associated with earth will encourage viewers to revolve the scheme of nature and life. © 2007 Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery