Saturday, March 12, 2016

Visit to Yu-an, the Obayashi Collection

Recently I had a fortunate opportunity to visit Yu-an, the private museum that showcases the Obayashi Collection artworks.  The museum stands in a quiet residential area, and is closed to the public.

The owner gave us a tour around the house which was full of commission works of world's finest living artists.  The glass and concrete building was designed by Tadao Ando, and the courtyard, covered by over 6,000 shining tiles, was done by Olafur Eliasson,


Like public museums, the exhibits change every few months, and when we visited, the solo show of Simon Fujiwara was going on, coinciding with his another solo exhibition at Opera City Art Gallery in Tokyo.

It also serves as the owner's personal two-bedroom guest house where his guests can dine and sleep amid the world's finest artists' works.  Tokujin Yoshioka's beautiful glass table reflects the light coming from Eliasson's courtyard and creates a most artistic bar!

The place was a real hidden gem.