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NGMA
Presents Vanishing Points: Contemporary Japanese Art
New
Delhi: October 12th, 2007 – November 11th, 2007
New Delhi:
National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi in
association with the Japan Foundation presents
"Vanishing Points: Contemporary Japanese Art" from
October 12, 2007 to November 11, 2007 at National
Gallery of Modern Art, Jaipur House, India Gate, New
Delhi. The exhibition has been mounted as part of the
Indo-Japan Friendship Year.
Curated by
Tadashi Kanai, Associate Professor, Shinshu
University, the exhibition presents works in variety
of media like paintings, sculptures, drawings,
photographs, videos, installations and performances by
ten Japanese artists namely Noritoshi Hirakawa,
Tomoaki Ishihara, Takehito Koganezawa, Mitsuko Miwa,
Saburo Muraoka, Kyoko Murase, Yukio Nakagawa, Masanori
Sukenari, Atsuko Tanaka and Keisuke Yamaguchi. Some of
the artists stayed in India for a certain period and
show the works inspired and created in India. For
instance, Hirakawa will be exhibiting a video
installation created based on the writings of author
Rajkamal Jha.
Says Prof.
Rajeev Lochan, Director NGMA: "The participating
artists differ from one another in age, trajectory of
artistic career and style of works. However, they have
a similar relation with the theme of the exhibition.
They exhibit internationalism in their art while
remaining rooted in the sensibilities of their
country".
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The
works of the various artists on display have a
common visual language despite differences in
style. The impetus in all the works is to
discover a meeting point with the stylistic
without distorting the realities of the artists'
experiences and physical environments. For
instance, Keisuke Yamaguchi creates works
that are analogous to the plant world and hint
at discovering life. His work titled the
Heart of the Plant presents a unified vision
of the human heart with a flower's life. The
artist explains, "We all like to use the heart
shape to give a form to feelings that cannot be
seen with the eyes. These thoughts led me to
take interest in organs. To me the organs of the
human body sometimes look like plants". At the
same time, no figure of speech can truly fill in
the blanks like Masanori Sukenari's works
that inhabit, fill and reconstruct space in
their almost condensed monumental forms and
shapes. Sukenari will make a new installation at
NGMA in his signature style that comprises
contoured shapes and patterns. The languidness
of the figures and forms in his work like
Friendship is often contrasted with the
deliberate repetitions of strong geometrical
patterns in others like
Run
from the Ordinary.
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Artist Tomoaki Ishihara says, "I
am simply trying to convey something that everyone is
familiar with - the point in a dream when your foot
slips on a crack in space and you fall. The dream
suddenly comes together with your heavy body at that
moment. It is an instant in time when a non-material
vision becomes flesh." Ishihara uses photographs
to play up the dualistic cosmology comprising the
foreground and its depth. The blurred
Self
Portraits at Nijo Castle
draw attention to the sensuousness
surrounding the center of absence and the resultant
super ordinary link to the world. In a similar
fashion, Yukio Nakagawa incorporates
photographs, antiques, calligraphy and ceramics in his
works. His ceramics and glass work are a revalidation
of the sensibility of his nation and culture in an
avant-garde fashion through a reference to the Ikebana
flower arrangement. Nakagawa's works like
Claws Fastening in the Currents of Time, Sacred Book
employ starkness of colour and form.
For
Atsuko Tanaka, the creator of the Electrical
dress, electronics and mechanics form the basis of
her exploration of unknown dimensions and was
exhibited during the recent "Documenta" in Germany.
What makes Tanaka's work notable among her
contemporaries is her novelty in making her works
living creatures. Her work conquers the demarcation
between painting, sculpture and performance. At the
end of her performance, the bulbs on her dress blink
in an "incessant, chaotic manner". On the other hand,
Murase's work is an isolated journey to
discover herself. She sets her exploration in tune
with nature, in a sensibility that is essentially
feminine. In Mosgarden and Mothparadise,
there is an express urge to relate herself to the
weightlessness of a butterfly or a moth. The winged
woman with the intricate wings embodies the freedom to
explore, to wander, to discover- however alone. The
various seasons and the garden installations exude
certain sensuality where one is tempted to almost
sample by touch the delicate intricacy of Murase's
strokes.
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Artist Mitsuko Miwa employs the concept
of duality in his images. His works like
Double Buffalo, Holy Supper and Religious
Paintin and a Nude move beyond the simple
images of a linear reality to express the dual
facets of everyday life. Hirakawa makes
digital installations to recreate Japanese
landscapes through a brilliant interplay of
colour and light. |
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Perhaps,
the most cutting edge in this group of artists is
Takehito Koganezawa who believes in preserving
every interesting dream by sketching and making notes.
He integrates latest technology, video and science in
explaining the concept of nothingness. In his Stir
of Universe series there is no room for despair as
the neon signs and bold colours underscore the
vitality of modern day life albeit juxtaposed with the
vastness of the night sky. Finally, last but not the
least is Saburo Muraoka, the senior-most artist
in this group, who reinterprets the sensuality of the
self through his art. Muraoka's work's thematic
concern is to encompass invisible energies. Hence,
heat (i.e. body temperature) and even oxygen are used
as materials in his work. His movement from iron to
other materials essential to life introduces scope for
ceaseless interpretations. Existence independent of
death and the experiential as visible through
Standing Bed and Oxygen all exhibit the works of a
true master of the experimental.
Indeed, an
exhibition that will showcase the best of Japanese
contemporary art ranging from 1960s to the present in
all its genres!
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