NEW YORK, NY.- TAI Modern announces its exhibition, Masterpieces of Japanese Bamboo Art.

TAI Modern has assembled an impressive collection of historically important bamboo artists as well as contemporary masters. Some of this show’s highlights are masterworks by seldom seen artists Ito Nobukata and Ishakawa Shoun, an early large scale sculpture by Yako Hodo, a rare double banded sculpture by Torii Ippo, and an organic vessel in Tanabe Yota’s signature style. Multiple generations of the famous lineages of Tanabe Chikuunsai and Hayakawa Shokosai are being represented, and is showing examples of work by all six of the bamboo artists to be named Living National Treasures.

2017 is an important year for Japanese bamboo art. It is the 50th anniversary of Shono Shounsai being appointed a Living National Treasure, becoming the first bamboo artist to receive this distinction. 2017 is the also the year that the Metropolitan Museum of Art is presenting Japanese Bamboo Art: The Abbey Collection, an exhibition featuring works drawn from one of the world’s finest collections of bamboo baskets and sculpture. 50 years ago, even 20 ago, Japanese bamboo art was almost unknown in the United States. The thought that their artform would be honored with a show at America’s preeminent art museum would have seemed like a pipe-dream to most bamboo artists.

2017 is an important anniversary for TAI Modern as well. In 1997, Robert Coffland and Mary Kahlenberg, the founders of TAI Gallery, first began representing bamboo artists.

So, in celebration of this momentous year, TAI Modern is presenting masterworks of Japanese bamboo art at Joan B Mirviss LTD in New York’s Upper East Side. Joan Mirviss is America’s foremost dealer of contemporary Japanese ceramics, and her exquisitely designed gallery is a perfect setting for a selection of contemporary and historic works by 50 of the artform’s most talented artists. The show coincides with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition, and the gallery sees it as a celebration of the esteem bamboo art has earned in the United States over the last twenty years.

TAI Modern is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It has been the world’s premier gallery for contemporary Japanese bamboo art for 20 years. The gallery represents more than 35 Japanese bamboo artists, as well as select American artists working in a variety of media.

Masterpieces of Japanese Bamboo Art is on view at Joan B Mirviss LTD, 39 East 78th Street, Suite 401, New York, NY 10075. The gallery will be open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.