The only way in which the world is able to operate is through the establishment of  values, including such things as time, calendars, laws, even invisible traffic rules and the ethics of etiquette that define the interactions of human life. These values on which humanity relies so much, have already been made abstract and become an integral part of daily life, making them both tangible and intangible. We have been taught to make judgments based on “universal” values, but over time humanity has lost the motivation to rethink the “correctness of values”.

The value of a work of art derives from personal experience, cultural tradition and social environment. InJapan, few artists use rainbows as a creative motif, because Japanese culture views rainbows as something that “can be seen, but not touched,” “transitory” and “beauty lost.” There is even a more mainstream view of such fleeting existence: “The clock in the Jetavana Vihar strikes, telling of the impermanence of life; the flowers on the two Shala trees fade, blooms fading like the vicissitudes of life. Pride, decadence and licentiousness are fleeting, like a spring dream; strength and tyranny are all laid waste, like so much dust in the wind” (The Tale of the Heike).

The Japanese view rainbows as transitory moments in time, like the passing of a shooting star. In this context, the “As Long as Rainbows Last” exhibition deliberately chose rainbows as a motif because the sense of value in this area is less well defined. The exhibition focuses on expressionism in contemporary Japanese art through three sub themes; “Loss and Others” , “Tangible and Intangible” , “Culture and Sub-Culture.” At the same time, it also showcases artists who address the issue of traditional artistic values, thereby reflecting the changing values of Japanese society, whilst also discussing the meaning of the values that underpin art in general.