#japanese contemporary art

[jareckiworld]

Tomoko Kashiki — With Benjamina and Wall  (acrylic, pencil, pastel and linen on wooden panel, 2012)

[creativespark]

Kiyoshi Saito (Japanese, 1907-1997)

[tokyo-fashion]

Legendary Japanese Robot Artist Hajime Sorayama Show in Vancouver

The "Space Traveler" solo exhibition by legendary Japanese robot artist Hajime Sorayama at the CICA Vancouver Canada runs from July 26, 2023 through September 16, 2023. This appears to be the same the art show that was recently on in Harajuku (photos are from Harajuku).

"Space Traveler" at CICA Vancouver

[altrbody]

"Among all living things only human beings have a perception of death. Animals avoid death instinctively, but they do not have a sense of fear that originates from the power of imagination. Human beings can imagine death, their own deaths, and from the power of imagination fear and anxiety are born. The deaths of those around us threaten our existence. So we the threatened, we the survivors, must resolve this problem. We cannot live in a continual state of anxiety, so within the grave we must find a stable form to conceal ourselves, conceal the fear. The burial of the dead and the ceremonies that accompany it are like the artworks of a community, of a people. Anyone could make works like mine; they are just drawings of circles. Anyone can draw a perfect circle. Though on a superficial level there may be differences in the art of different individuals, if we dig deeper, at the bottom we find something in common. We can get to a point where we can identify that particular form, show it, and say, "This is my work," but it can also be your work. That's the kind of work I want to create. It is as though I am making the work because no one else is making it. Picasso's paintings could only have been created by Picasso. That is because his works display such distinct individuality. My works do not show individuality in the sense that Picasso's do. The act of making these works has something to do with complementing the sense of absence I referred to earlier. That is, they may originate from personal circumstances, but I'm not creating them because of my personal circumstances. The act of putting the collective desire of the community into concrete form happens to coincide with my personal desire. I am not interested in the formal aspects of a work. What I want to create is a place. We tend to think of places, or sites, as the undifferentiated areas that spread out around us, but when I say that I want to create a place, I mean one that is very dense. Every people, every community, has its own place, and it is from their common stories that its density is generated. When a place becomes dense, a vertical light appears on that spot. This may be a rather difficult concept, but it is the image I have." -Toshikatsu Endo

Toshikatsu Endo, Epitaph, 1986.

Wood, tar, water (inside) and fire; 150 x 185 cm.

[yan-yangs]

[pheere]

Genpei Akasegawa’s One-Thousand-Yen Note Trial Impounded Objects.

In thriving Japan of the 1960s, an artist decides to rebel against the westernisation of his culture by using banknotes as his creative medium. His art using Japanese currency as a medium was symbolically intended to undermine the value of the legal tender, injecting uncertainty into the sacred status of the banknote, revealing its illegitimacy as a protest against the country’s increasing proclivity toward capitalism.

Copying and tampering with the design of a ¥1,000 note, his work became controversial when in 1967 he was convicted for the crime of imitating currency. Despite two appeals, he was given a three-month prison sentence in 1970.

In his trial, Akasegawa pointed out, “Even if we know intellectually what the monetary system is, the ‘perpetrator’ – the currency – constantly overshadows us, clings to our work and our actions like eyelids to our bodies, and before our eyes, sneaks into our wallets/our beings, and aided by the speed with which it circulates despite our wishes, without time to look it in the face, wraps us in the long rope it drags.”

[jadeseadragon]

Sachiho Ikeda, The Burning Grass, 2017, acrylic on cotton cloth, 100 × 65.2 cm.

[dann-web]

A Long Excuse, 2023

Acrylic board on wooden box, florescent light

[miamaimania]

Basking in the Surreal Summer of '01 ¥ - from Egg Magazine

[elixir]

View from the Undercity

Tomoaki Okada

[jareckiworld]

Koki Tsujimoto — Auspicious Blue & White Whale (mineral pigments on japanese paper mounted on wood panel, 2021)

[creativespark]

Jiraiya

[tokyo-fashion]

Yoshitomo Nara Art Show in Australia

Japanese contemporary artist Yoshitomo Nara will have a solo exhibition at Art Gallery of Western Australia in Perth from February 26, 2023 to June 25, 2023. Exhibition Details

[altrbody]

"My desire to work as an artist began from a certain sense of absence, a feeling of something lacking. I had an urge to fill in that missing part. I think everyone has this sensation-we all share the feeling--so when I succeed in putting a form to the image in my mind, I have for a fleeting moment the illusion of complementing, of compensating for, that absence. But, of course, I can never really fill in the missing part, so I must continue to create my works. My works are not markedly individual in appearance. They are not the result of a desire to express my individuality. Rather I feel that they are something more universal. Of course, there is an implicit contradiction in this statement, but at least it applies on a conceptual level. I don't arrange my works by using any special, individualistic methods of formation. Most of my works are simple forms like circles. A perfect circle goes beyond the level of symbolic imagery. It is the simplest and most primordial form. Circles appear at the most festive and ritualistic occasions as well as at holy places. I have often said that while a circle spreads horizontally in form, it extends vertically in meaning. Thrusting forth from the very base of the earth toward the sky, a circle is like a magnetic field. It is within this context that I create circles. Although at one time I thought about this in terms of symbolism and allegory, I am not so conscious of these aspects at the present time. Even so, my work could still be interpreted in this way. From minimal art I learned about removing superfluous elements. The removal of unnecessary elements makes a given form more powerful. The idea of removing everything is also part of Zen thought. Zen Buddhist concepts permeate Japanese culture, and Zen Buddhism has had a significant influence on my ideas. After everything is re-moved, only the absolute remains. This principle is significant on the level of technique as well as providing a method for refining various concepts. I feel that this is very important. I did not adopt minimalism or conceptualism as a style, however, which is why my works are said to be romantic. It could be said that I am discussing literary matters, such as life and death, but these are important in the context of my reality. And however romantic that may be, it is only from that point that my works can be created. You need a single message, but that message should have a wide range of interpretations. The most fundamental issue for human beings is life and death. It is the very existence of human beings, human existence, that I want to express in my work." -Toshikatsu Endo

Toshikatsu Endo, Lotus, 1989.

Earth, air, sun, water, fire, and wood; 75 x diameter 360 cm.

[thefugitivesaint]

Yoshitaka Amano, 'Animal', 1987 Source

[toutpetitlaplanete]

Hirō Isono - Untitled, n.d.