Five fresh, award-winning approaches to a time-honored art.
Stunning bamboo artworks by the recipients of the 2024 New Generation Bamboo Art Prizes are currently on view in the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Gallery, including the winner of this year’s Coffland Grand Prize, Frill: Surging Waves III by artist Nakatomi Hajime (Japanese, b. 1974).
The Asian Art Museum is home to one of the largest collections of Japanese bamboo art in the world, thanks to generous donations from collector Lloyd Cotsen (1929–2017), who encouraged contemporary bamboo artists through his sponsorship of the Cotsen Bamboo Prize. Today, this legacy lives on through The Next Generation Bamboo Art Prizes. Organized by Robert Coffland and Margo Thoma (and judged by a panel including the Asian Art Museum’s Associate Curator of Japanese Art Yuki Morishima), The Next Generation Bamboo Art Prizes celebrate and support the future of Japanese bamboo art.
Top image: Frill: Surging Waves III, 2023, by Nakatomi Hajime (Japanese, b. 1974). Japan. Reiwa period (2019– ). Bamboo, rattan, and lacquer. Lent by the artist, IL2024.5.3. Photograph by Kubo Takashi. Courtesy of The Next Generation Bamboo Art Prizes.
