“Welcome Back, Nancy Seki!” at the Aomori Museum of Art Until December 23; Eraser Prints and TV Criticism

The special display “Welcome Back, Nancy Seki!” is on view as part of Collection Exhibition 2026-3 at the Aomori Museum of Art (Aomori City) until Wednesday, December 23. It presents eraser stamps and related materials made by Nancy Seki (1962–2002), the eraser printmaker and columnist from Aomori City, alongside works by printmakers from Aomori. It is the first time since the 2011 special exhibition “The Art of Aomori” that the museum has exhibited Nancy Seki’s work.

A brief profile of Nancy Seki

Nancy Seki was born in 1962 in Aomori City, the eldest daughter of the family that ran the Seki Glass Shop. After graduating from high school she moved to Tokyo, and later dropped out of Hosei University. The eraser stamps she carved as a hobby caught the eye of columnist Ichiro Enokido, and through him she met Seiko Ito, then an editor at the youth magazine “Hot-Dog PRESS.” In 1985 she began a series in the magazine combining eraser prints with short texts.

She went on to publish weekly TV criticism in magazines such as “Shukan Bunshun” and “Shukan Asahi,” and was also active in books, including “Nancy no Ganmen Techo” (Nancy’s Face Notebook) and “Nanisama no Tsumori” (Who Do You Think You Are?) (Kadokawa Bunko). Her surviving eraser prints alone number more than 5,000. She died suddenly in 2002, at the age of 39.

Why Nancy Seki now? Linked to a digital archive of her eraser stamps

The museum describes Nancy Seki as a critic of popular culture from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. It regards her TV criticism, which caught the oddities lurking in celebrities’ words and actions and cut into a prevailing climate of excessive narcissism, as social criticism as well. Her criticism combined biting yet plain, funny phrasing with caricature eraser prints placed beside her columns, and the museum says it has not faded even as times have changed.

The exhibition is held in step with a digital archive project launched in 2025 to record her eraser stamps, which are at risk of deterioration. It is a joint project of the Nancy Seki Bon Institute (a general incorporated association) and KYOTO Design Lab at the Kyoto Institute of Technology. Its representative, Hideki Mochizuki, says that preserving her works is also an “archive of television culture.”

Since the museum’s previous display, the media environment has changed, with people moving away from TV and the arrival of video streaming, social media and AI. The museum says her critical spirit, which watched consumer society from an unwavering standpoint and tried to see through to the essence with severity and humor, should be needed most by people living in today’s unstable society.

What can visitors see? Four sections

The display occupies five galleries: O, P, Q, M and L. According to the list of exhibited works published by the museum, it consists of the following four sections.

• Section 1 “When Nancy Was Here: Japanese Magazine and TV Culture of the 1980s–90s”

• Section 2 “Her Career as an Eraser Printmaker”

• Section 3 “Aomori Printmakers and Nancy Seki”: Shows works by Aomori printmakers such as Junzo Kon, Shiko Munakata and Junichiro Sekino together with Nancy Seki’s eraser stamps.

• Section 4 “The Digital Archive of Eraser Stamps”: Presents 3D data of the eraser stamps through CG renderings made with Blender. KYOTO Design Lab (D Lab) at the Kyoto Institute of Technology cooperated on the 3D scanning.

The official website shows images of “Nancy Seki (Living with a Cutter),” “Hiromi Go” and “Problem Old Men Trio (Shintaro Katsu + Dennis Hopper + Roger Bade).” Individual works on display can be checked in the list of exhibited works.

Seen alongside Toru Narita’s aliens: other displays in the collection exhibition

In Gallery H of the same collection exhibition, “Portraits from Beyond: Toru Narita” sets Nancy Seki’s prints against Toru Narita’s designs for aliens. The museum says Nancy Seki’s prints of entertainers show both the pleasure of losing oneself in the crowd and the sharp retort of her texts that brings readers back to their senses. Narita, for his part, devised ways to give strength to aliens who suddenly land on Earth. Entertainers seem familiar but are distant; aliens seem distant but are familiar. The museum says the two share something in giving form to encounters with others. Narita’s works on display include “Cicada Man” (1965).

In addition, the Shiko Munakata Gallery in Gallery N focuses on “seals,” presenting his board prints, yamato-e brush paintings and calligraphy (planned and arranged by the Shiko Munakata Memorial Museum). “With Print Magazines at Hand: The Youth of Chiharu Matsushita and His Friends” in Gallery J looks at the friendship of Chiharu Matsushita and his circle around the print magazine “Jun,” which was founded in 1932 and published only one issue. Gallery I hosts “Lonely Buoyancy: Naoshi Hashimoto,” co-organized with the Aomori Museum of Art Supportship Club, and Galleries F and G host “Yoshitomo Nara: From Travels in the North.” Aleko Hall displays Marc Chagall’s backdrops for the ballet “Aleko” year-round.

Tickets, prices and access: combined tickets with the Lieko Shiga exhibition

Admission to the collection exhibition is 700 yen for adults (560 yen for groups of 20 or more) and 400 yen for university students (320 yen for groups); those 18 and under and high school students are free. People with disabilities and one caregiver are also free. A combined ticket with the special exhibition “Lieko Shiga: Nanumo Kanumo,” which opened on Saturday, October 31, costs 2,060 yen for adults and 1,320 yen for university students and is sold as a same-day ticket only. Online tickets (e-tix) are also available.

Opening hours are 9:30–17:00 (last entry 16:30). Closed days during the run are Thursday, October 22, Monday, October 26, Friday, October 30, Monday, November 9, Tuesday, November 24 and Monday, December 14. The museum is about 10 minutes from the East Exit of JR Shin-Aomori Station on the “Nebutan-go” route bus. From JR Aomori Station, the Aomori City Bus bound for Sannai-Maruyama Site leaves from stop 6 and takes about 20 minutes. In either case, get off at “Kenritsu Bijutsukan-mae.” Parking is free, with spaces for about 350 standard vehicles.

Editor’s perspective

The display records the easily deteriorating eraser stamps as 3D data and presents that data itself as one of its sections. Efforts to preserve the works and an exhibition conveying the TV era that gave rise to them come together in one venue.

Works by Junzo Kon, named in Section 3, will also be shown in “Taisho ⇆ Reiwa Avant-Garde,” which opens at the Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art on December 4. From November 21, “Yoshitake Shinsuke Exhibition, Maybe” also opens at the Hachinohe Art Museum.

Overview

Name: Collection Exhibition 2026-3, Special Display “Welcome Back, Nancy Seki!”
Dates: Saturday, October 10 – Wednesday, December 23, 2026
Hours: 9:30–17:00 (last entry 16:30)
Closed: Thursday, October 22; Monday, October 26; Friday, October 30; Monday, November 9; Tuesday, November 24; Monday, December 14
Venue: Galleries O, P, Q, M and L, Aomori Museum of Art (the collection exhibition is on B1F and B2F)
Address: 185 Chikano, Yasuda, Aomori City, Aomori
Admission: Collection exhibition: adults 700 yen (groups 560 yen), university students 400 yen (groups 320 yen), free for those 18 and under and high school students. Combined ticket with “Lieko Shiga: Nanumo Kanumo” (same-day tickets only): adults 2,060 yen, university students 1,320 yen
3D scanning cooperation: KYOTO Design Lab (D Lab), Kyoto Institute of Technology
Official website: https://www.aomori-museum.jp/schedule/18760/
*Information as of October 20, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Aomori Museum of Art, October 2006 (public domain, from Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on information on the Aomori Museum of Art official website and its list of exhibited works (as of October 20, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team