This year’s First Steps exhibition will be the third held at the Grey Art Gallery and will, like the previous shows in 1997 and 1999, present cutting-edge works in diverse media by emerging Japanese artists. First Steps is a biennial competition, established in 1996, to discover, nurture, and support young artists in Japan and stimulate international recognition for their work.

The winners—Sayaka Akiyama, Noriaki Hayashi, MMM Project, Yuki Okumura, Risa Sato, Hiroko Shimizu, and Kenji Ueda—whose works will be exhibited at the Grey were selected from a pool of 100 finalists by an international jury of art professionals. The members of the jury were Ida Gianelli, Director, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy; Lynn Gumpert, Director, Grey Art Gallery; Kathy Halbreich, Director, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Kasper König, Independent Curator/Rector, Professor, Städelschule, Germany; Kwok Kian Chow, Director, Singapore Art Museum; Yongwoo Lee, art historian and critic, and Professor, Korea University, Seoul; and Tadayasu Sakai, Director, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, Japan. A three-person jury, composed of Lynn Gumpert; Yuko Hasegawa, Chief Curator, Kanazawa Contemporary Art Museum; and Fumio Nanjo, a Tokyo-based independent curator and art critic, made the initial selection from over 1,000 entries. Works by all 100 finalists were exhibited at the Yebisu Garden Hall in Tokyo from April 24 to May 7, 2000.

The Grey Art Gallery’s presentation of works by recipients of the Philip Morris Art Award serves not only to introduce New York audiences to the newest artistic trends from Japan but also, through educational programs, to provide a forum for in-depth discussion and exchange of ideas. 

The exhibition is sponsored by Philip Morris International Inc.