Tezukayama Gallery

This guide to Tezukayama Gallery in Osaka follows dealer Ryoichi Matsuo, who opened a small gallery in the quiet suburb of Tezukayama in 1992, then in 2010 shut it and moved everything to Osaka's shopping district, keeping the old suburb's name anyway. It covers why he made that gamble: a conviction that Japanese contemporary artists were overlooked at home and abroad, and a plan to put emerging painters, sculptors, and photographers in front of new audiences. The gallery sits on a stretch locals still call Orange Street.