Seeing is believing. But what if the thing you are looking at isn't real?
The Hoki Museum in Chiba poses this question to visitors in a unique way. The museum is dedicated to Realism, an art genre that depicts on canvas exactly what the human eye sees. Approximately 120 paintings by 40 contemporary artists are on display.
It is fun to stare at these lifelike paintings because they present an illusion. What looks like the real world sprawls within their frames. It's deceiving as it's a very real-looking one.
The museum, which opened in 2010, was founded by Masao Hoki, 89, who runs a medical products manufacturing company. He built the museum so Realism artists, who are underrepresented in galleries, could have a place to show their works. The museum exhibits art in one long corridor that connects three floors and is divided into eight galleries.
A gallery on the second basement floor features works created specifically for the museum by 14 artists. One of the artworks on display is "Yume no Hako" (Box of Dreams) by Nobuyuki Shimamura, a painting of 20 different types of beetles and stag beetles based on a physical insect display he mounted himself. Shimamura spent three years creating the painting. The insects' shiny bodies and the exquisitely gradated colors make the beetles look so real you want to reach out and touch them.
One large landscape painting of mountains has a strong presence in the permanent exhibition area on the basement floor. Measuring 2 meters tall and 3.95 meters wide, "Soten" (Blue Sky) was created by Hiroshi Noda, a leading figure of Realism who also painted a portrait of the Emperor and Empress in 2018. The work depicts Mt. Usu in Hokkaido, which erupted in 2000, and steam rises high up in the distant sky.
Many visitors stop in front of one painting in particular. Kei Mieno's "Kotoba ni suru mae no sonomama" (As Is, Before Being Put into Words) depicts a soaking-wet girl lying in shallow water. The texture of the girl's skin and the clarity of the water make the painting look as if it were a photograph. When Mieno posted a photo of the work on his Twitter account, the tweet received more than 139,000 likes and trended on the platform.
Recently, an exhibition of paintings by the late Sosuke Morimoto was held in the special exhibition area on the first floor. Hoki decided to collect Realism paintings after encountering Morimoto's work.
"Realistic-looking paintings are easy to understand and appreciate even if you aren't well-versed in art," said Hoki's daughter, Hiroko, 63, who serves as the museum's director.
Indeed, there is no need for a specialist's knowledge. I had a pleasant experience immersing myself in the myriad worlds depicted in the paintings -- proof that seeing is believing.
Hoki Museum: 3-15 Asumigaoka Higashi, Midori Ward, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture
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