Tatsumi Orimoto - With Bread

Tatsumi Orimoto - With Bread

Aoyama Meguro

2-30-6 Kamimeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0051

February 20 (Fri) – March 8 (Sun), 2026

Open on Monday, February 23 (National Holiday) in commemoration of the first anniversary of his passing. Aoyama Meguro is pleased to present a memorial exhibition for the internationally active artist Tatsumi Orimoto (1946–2025), born and based in Kawasaki: Tatsumi ORIMOTO: With Bread.

Throughout his life, Orimoto pursued diverse series of works, among which his actions using bread are the best known and constitute a long-standing signature practice. Using “bread,” a material accessible anywhere in the world, he transformed spaces and situations almost imperceptibly—this simplicity and improvisational approach defined his method.

Bread, as a staple food, metaphor, and widely shared substance, invited multiple interpretations and imaginative responses to Orimoto’s actions, attracting critical attention across national and cultural boundaries. While anyone could have thought of such actions, in practice, no one had undertaken them—one of the reasons this series became emblematic of Orimoto’s work.

His performances were repeated in accordance with the places he visited, his bodily condition, and the circumstances at hand, while constantly introducing new variations. Bread remained a consistent material in Orimoto’s creative practice throughout his later years.

This exhibition marks Orimoto’s seventh solo show at our gallery, and his first posthumous

exhibition at Aoyama Meguro. It is also the first time we are presenting a program focused specifically on his “bread” series. The show features documentation of bread-based actions conducted across the world, including his final work for The New York Times Magazine, alongside photographs, videos, and archival materials. Sculptural works and drawings produced in the course of these actions will also be on display.

We hope this exhibition offers an opportunity to become more acquainted with the work of Tatsumi Orimoto.