Japanese Suppleness contemporary art from Japan
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Japanese contemporary art Nadia Leander Gottlieb Non-European and non-American contemporary art has during recent years attracted increasing attention and focus from a western audience, who on one hand doesn’t really quite understand the distanced east and especially Japan, but on the other hand feels deeply fascinated by a country so rich on traditions and aesthetic beauty. The fascination and the lack of understanding of a country with the samurai as a warrior and the Geisha as a symbol of beauty has existed since the very first explorers during the 16th century discovered the east. A brief historical flashback is necessary if one should seek to understand and appreciate the Japanese contemporary art. The story about the the western societies discovering Japan and its art begins during the 17 century as western merchants saw the country for the very first time. They were met by a country with a cultural life in full bloom. Theater, acting and art itself played a very important role in the everyday life of the Japanese. In paintings on screens one would find landscapes, animals and travel descriptions and everywhere in the art you would find the Japanese sensitivity and strong artistic consciousness. This period is later termed the Edo-period. Because of the arrival of the western societies the samurai government of Japan feared for the independence of the country and expelled all foreigners along with a ban of all western goods. The isolation lasted for 250 years untill 1868 when Japan had to open up its borders again as a result of pressure from the west. The following years were difficult times for Japan and its inhabitants. Firstly the influence from the west was overwhelming, and secondly the Japanese tried desperately to hold on to their sense of nationality. This was a difficult period as many felt their national identity being overruled by international trends. Studying contemporary Japanese artists today one will find a kind of deliberate sense of what is Japanese. The artists use as a point of origin the high technology society that Japan has developed into since the second world war, combined with the Japanese sensibility found in the original Japanese art which includes the art dating back to the Edo-period. By using the present as a starting point and simultaneously referring back to the original Japanese art, and showing a linkage between the past and the present, the contemporary Japanese artists puts an end to the myth about the Japanese identity crisis and loss of sense of nationality. With this linkage the contemporary artists shows us that Japan, in spite of its history, has mastered to recover its sense of nationality and show its true face through a contemporary art that is so utterly Japanese. Japanese contemporary art comes in many shapes and sizes, it is no longer just the screen but also more modern medias such as installation and video can be seen. The exhibition �Japanese Suppleness� shows exactly this variety of medias. Both the painting, the installation and the sculpture unfolds in new and challenging ways and yet with an expression and sensibility of material that originates in the original Japanese art, as it could be seen in the Edo-periods cultural life.
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Concept Gjethuset and Galleri SPOT have always been active to have unique exhibitions and are also interested in Japanese art. These exhibition places are located in Frederiksværk, 40 km northwest of Copenhagen. Both Gjethuset and Galleri SPOT had a couple of Japanese exhibitions before, and it was quite successful and well received by the people. Gjethuset, Galleri SPOT and Ågalleriet cooperated as an art dispatch station out of Frederiksværk. Now we decided to show Japanese suppleness through Japanese art. Japanese arts talk to the people with a sense of suppleness, through their material, technique, or concept. We feel a different culture and sense of beauty from Japanese art, especially the refined and elegant works. Japanese artists have unexpected flexibility in their mind compared to most European artists. And that makes people feel comfortable and fascinated. For the younger generation, it will be an experience of a different culture, and for the older people, it will give them a calm and cozy feeling. And for all the people, it will be just fantastic.
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Itinerary Gjethuset - www.gjethus.dk Galleri SPOT - www.spot-spot.dk Ågalleriet - www.kunstforening.dk Frederiksværk, Denmark 2. June – 3. August. 2007 Kultur Center Fredericia, Denmark 24. August – 9. September. 2007
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artists Etsuko Kawamura Etsuko Tashima Hideo Matsumoto Jinta Hasegawa Jun Mitsuhashi Ken Kagajo Koji Hatakeyama Koji Takaki Kumoi Yajima Masae Bamba Masashi Honda Naomi Nakashima Shunichiro Nakashima Taizo Mori Tohru Ohtaka Yuko Takada Keller
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Etsuko Kawamura Painting
Living in Osaka, Japan e-mail : kawamura@kuad.kyoto-art.ac.jp Presently 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 1980 1953
Artist, Professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design Art fair (KIAF) [COEX ](South Korea) Beauty of Home, Toyama (Toyama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art/ Japan) Story of Flower (Kariya City Museum/ Aichi, Japan) Received the Fellowship in Italy -’05 (Agency for Cultural Affairs/ Tokyo, Japan) Artists of Today ’03-Nature from Personal Viewpoint (Yokohama Citizen Gallery/ Japan) Lotus Notes (Imura Art Gallery/ Kyoto, Japan) Completed postgraduate course in Oil Painting at Kyoto City University of Arts Born in Shiga, Japan
Looking for “Another Form of Nature” When I am looking at the wild flowers and trees, sometimes I feel a kind of vibration from nature. It seems as if they breathe in sky and earth. Once there was a style about Japanese Painting. The leaves of the trees, summer grass , some flowers , were symbolic of the uncertainties of life. But now I want to feel another sense between external reality and internal world.
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Etsuko Tashima Ceramic
Living in Osaka, Japan e-mail: tashima@ksh.biglobe.ne.jp Presently Associate Proffesor of Osaka University of Art Member of IAC ( International Academy of Ceramics ) 2006 2005 2004 2002
“The Quintessence of Modern Japanese Ceramics” (Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum / Japan) Japan Ceramic Society Prize “Cool & Light : New Spirit in Craft Making” (The National Museum of Modern Art, Craft Gallery, Tokyo / Japan) Solo Exhibition at Ohara Museum of Art , Okayama / Japan) “Contemporary Japanese Crafts” Petronas Gallery / Malaysia, National Gallery / Indonesia)
1981 1959
Graduated from Osaka University of Arts Born in Osaka, Japan
his work combines ceramics and glass. Working in this way is very interesting to me now. The glass parts are cast; cullet glass is fired in a plaster mold in an electric kiln, then the mold is cracked open and the glass parts come out This process of cracking open the mold to discover the glass pieces, is quite different from my work in clay up until now, in which I have assembled handbuilt and slab-built parts to create a finished work. Also, glass is a mass of material, and yet it remains transparent; I feel that it has the power to draw the viewer’s attention into the interior of the piece. Compared to glass, I feel that clay, rather than inviting the viewer inside the piece, captures the viewer’s attention at the surface level, existing like a skin. Works made of clay are hollow inside, which means they are forms made of skin. I would like to express my images by combining parts of glass, which is a mass, and clay, which is a skin. The title of my glass and clay work is “Cornucopia.” I have invested this work with my wish for abundance and fertility. I hope that artist, work, and viewer can share this vision of abundance through my works based on plant motifs. My work changes constantly, because I want to express honestly what I am feeling at any given moment. I think this attitude is important for an artist who makes things, and I think it will lead to building the future of ceramic art.
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Hideo Matsumoto Ceramic
Living in Ohtsu, Japan e-mail: peach@kyoto-seika.ac.jp Presently 2007 2005 2003 2002 1999 1995 1991
Artist, Professor at the Kyoto Seika University The 4th World Ceramic Biennale 2007 Korea Nutidig Japansk og Dansk Kunst og Kunsthåndværk (Dronninglund kunstcenter / Denmark) Japan-Keramik und Fotografie [Tradition und Gegenwart] (Deichtorhallen, Hamburg / Germany) Contemporary Master Ceramista of Western in Japan (the Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum / Japan) The Japanese Contemporary Ceramic Art (The Museum van Bommel van Dam / Holland) Japanese Studio Craft [Traditional-Avan-Garde] (The Victoria & Albert Museum / England) The International Exhibition of Contemporary Ceramic (the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park)
1982 1951
M.A.F at the Kyoto-City University of Art(Craft course-Ceramics) Born in Kyoto Japan
We can discover a cool detail, which will make us create a new work, during daily monotonous working. Recently I produced my work with the title of “Subterranean Moonlight”. I pour several kinds of porcelain of odds, ends, fibroid and slip into plaster mold together, and make a work with a method where detail of odds and ends covers up the form, and to make it. This detail came up when I threw useless fragments and slip away on a plaster board. “Subterranean moonlight” - I pour odds and ends and slip while seeing it through into a directly invisible inside model, to feel like a light coming in subtly into the underground district. My creative action is carved in a seal as detail, and becomes form. The detail comes up from inside of the structure. And it is stripped off a cuticle for protection in the open environment, and expresses an inhabiting state as a figure of only transparent cells. I feel it is a figure the limit of which is close to life.
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Jinta Hasegawa
Photography / print on wood Living in Tokyo,Japan e-mail jintahas@yahoo.co.jp Presentry Artsist 2007 Yokohama Photo Apartment (Kitanaka White / Yokohama, Japan) 2006 Amuse Art Jam (Museum of Kyoto / Japan) 2006 Cow Parade Tokyo (Marunouchi Area / Tokyo,Japan) 2006 The Library (Ashikaga Museum of Art, Tama Art University Museum / Japan) 2005 Urban Museum Grand Prize Winners (Marunouchi Building / Tokyo,Japan) 2005 Contemporary Japanese and Danish Art and Craft (Dronninglund Kunstcenter / Denmark) 2005 Sampling Atmosphere (Gallery Art Space / Tokyo,Japan) 2000 1976
Tokyo Polytechnic University Art Photography Course Born in Tokyo, Japan
I print photographs of various scenery on wooden boards. The grain and feel of the wood combines with the picture to bring forth a totally new image. While being a single photograph, it has a ‘wood’ quality, and makes one feel warm and nostalgic.
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Jun Mitsuhashi Textile and Wood Art Living in Kyoto Japan e-mail jun@kcua.ac.jp Presently Professor of Kyoto City University of Arts 2005 5th International Triennial in Tournai (Tournai, Belgium) 2003 Solo Exhibition (Exhibition Space Tokyo International Forum / Japan) 2001 Solo Exhibition (Oriel 31 Davies Memorial Gallery/ Newtown, UK) 2000 The Seaweed’s Paper & Four artists (Rias Ark Museum of ART / Miyagi, Japan) 1993 SHIGA ANNUAL’93 (Shiga Prefectural Museum / Japan) 1991 “Restress Shadows” Japanese Fiberworks (Goldsmith Gallery / London, Tour in UK) 1987 1st International Textile Competition Kyoto (Kyoto National Hall / Japan) 1981 1954
M.A. Kyoto City University of Arts Born in Kyoto
As the cosmos has been there, Lives have been brought about by a slight chance in a chaos, which encompass scattered primordial matter. Different life forms have common genes. Only a combination of genes, such as A.T.G.C. ( A : adenine T : thymine G : guanine C : cytosine ) would mean different lives. In the water, which is similar to the cosmos, such subtle and delicate differences have brought about the dynamic world. It is rare for my works to exude ‘strength’ of weight or solid existence. Rather, they are ephemeral, soft, and ‘fragile’ pieces. I wish my works be a tiny window through which can be looked at such things as omens of change and premonitions.
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Ken Kagajo Dyeing
Living in Osaka, Japan e-mail : kagajk@yahoo.co.jp Presently Artist 2006 Art Court Frontier 2006 #4 (ARTCOURT Gallery / Osaka, Japan ) 2006 Selected Exhibition of Arts & Crafts - New Weaves -(The Museum of Kyoto / Japan) 2005 TEXTILE 05 - Kaunas Art Biennial - (Kaunas, Lithuania) 2005 CRIA Exhibition (Kyoto Art Center / Japan) 2004 3rd International Fiber Art Biennale Shanghai (Shanghai Library Conference and Exhibition Center / China) 2004 Seiryuten Some Exhibition (Kyoto Municipal Museum / Japan) 1998 The 3rd Shell Contemporary Art Award Exhibition (Meguro Museum of Art / Tokyo, Japan) 2000 1974
M.F.A. Osaka University of Arts Born in Osaka, Japan
In the field of dyeing, there are many excellent traditional techniques in Japan. Having studied dyeing at university, I endeavored to depart from stereotypical expressions based on those established techniques. Accordingly, after breaking down the entire process of the traditional technique katazome (paste-resist stencil dyeing), I have restructured them in a manner of my own. My originality lies in the technique of directly applying paste onto a piece of cloth with a squeegee first and then dyeing the cloth. It is my approach to challenging the presumption that paste can be used only in combination with the stencil. My emotions and the traces of my movement of spreading paste with the squeegee are expressed as beautifully dyed images on cloth, fully reflecting improvisation that was out of the question with traditional techniques. For a unique simple expression on a single piece of cloth, it is essential to have good connection and harmony between two elements: mental concentration in a perfectly selfless state and constant learning from outstanding traditional techniques.
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Koji Hatakeyama Metalwork
Live in Takaoaka,Japan Presently 2007 2006 2003 2002 2000 1998 1995 1980 1956
Artist Collect (Victoria & Albert Museum / London, U.K.) Collect (Victoria & Albert Museum / London, U.K.) Twist in Japan (Musee des Beaux Arts de Nancy / Nancy, France) Hands On (Philadelphia Museum of Arts / Philadelphia, U.S.A.) Utsuwa (The National Museum of Modern Art / Tokyo, Japan) Contemporary Japanese Crafts (National Museum / Copenhagen, Denmark) Japanese Studio Crafts (Victoria & Albert Museum / London, U.K.)
Kanazawa College of Art Born in Toyama,Japan
All of my creative activities are pursued in conjuction with daily life and are therefore closely connected with reality. An excellent piece of craftmanship posesses a life of its own that is eternal. Thus, it is essential for an artist to breathe life into his work so that the object will make viewers anticipate some sort of spiritual purification. It will stimulate their imagination and make them aware of the flow of consciousness in time and space. In this way, the object will confront reality and acquire an immediacy. This is the approach I have adopted in my work with bronze.
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Koji Takaki Soft Sculpture
Living in Kyoto ,Japan E-mail:kojit@kuad.kyoto-art.ac.jp 2006 2003 2001 2000 1999 1998
5th international Triennial in Tournai (Tournai, Belgium) Manchester and Kyoto project ( Kyoto Art Center, Japan) Textual Space, contemporary Japanese textile art (Museum of Manchester, UK) Kimono as Canvas (Canberra Design Center, traveling in Australia) International Textile Competition Kyoto 99 ( Design museum of Kyoto, Japan) Art in Kikoku-tei (Kyoto, Japan)
1981 1954
M.F.A. Kyoto City University of Art Born in Osaka, Japan
The work represents my view of the world. The world is full of contingency. An incident at one location can have relevance to another incident. The convex and concave of the two materials completely overlap. One flows into another. That’s the way I make sense of the world.
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Kumoi Yajima
Soft Sculpture, Earth Work Living in Nikko, Japan e-mail : kumoi88@mountain.ocn.ne.jp www.c-channel.com/c00459/index.html Presently 2006 2004 2005 2005 2001 2000 1995
Artist The 2nd International Triennial for Minitextiles (Gallery of Szombathely / Hungary) Installation Exhibition MORNING GLOW (Wacoal Ginza Art Space / Tokyo, Japan) SHIBORI TEXTILE CATALYSTS (Tama Art University Museum / Tokyo, Japan) The 11th International Triennial of Tapestry Lodz (Central Museum of Textiles / Lodz, Poland) Door to millennium (Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts / Japan) Paper Biennale 2000 ( Museum Rijswijk / Holland) Nikko Earth Work Ode to Stars Fallen to Sacred Ground (Garden of Nikko Kanaya Hotel, Japan)
1975 1952
Graduated from Department of Architecture, Faculty of Physics, Tokyo Denki University Born in Nikko
The momentary brilliance that nature exhibits. The invisible natural providence that is hidden in it. I want to portray its essential qualities. As I was fascinated by a spiral form, I made a tape with white washi, handmade Japanese paper, and spring wires for creating spirals.Then, I created 1,000 pieces of spiral in the woods using the tape. As the day broke, the white spirals appeared in the woods, with their presence further pronounced by the green of the undergrowth. Soon, the woods were filled with energies. The air wavered, and so did the white spirals. And myself, too . . . . . . . The invisible shape of the waver that I perceived there. I was able to find in the movements of my hands, the natural providence that existed within me. This has evolved into the work, “WAVE�. The work has formed a place where it resonates with space and us. I also want to portray in space the moment of brilliance, by creating work making full use of materials and applying existing structures and patterns, and by utilizing the characteristics of the work thus produced.
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Masae Bamba Dyeing (Shibori)
Living in Kyoto, Japan e-mail : bambam@mbr.nifty.com Presently Instructor of Kobe Design University 2007 Textilekunst-Zauber des Fadens (Galerie Handwerk / Munch, Germany ) 2006 [ex] changing Tradition (Southern Project Studio / Perth, Australia ) 2005 TRIENNIAL HIGASHIHIROSHIMA 2005(Higashi-Hiroshima Museum / Hiroshima, Japan ) Fiber As Art Shibori-Expounding Form ( Senbikiya gallery/ Tokyo, Japan ) SHIBORI [TEXTILE CATALYSTS] (Tama Art University Museum / Tokyo, Japan ) 5th TRIENNIAL INTERNATIONAL TAPESTRY AND TEXTILE ART EXHIBITION TOURNAI (Chapel of the Choiseul Seminary / Tournai, Belgium) 2002 Soft Sculpture From The East—Japanese Sense of Beauty ( Portalen / Denmark ) 1992 1967
M.F.A Kyoto City University of Arts Born in Kyoto, Japan
I chose SHIBORI as the method which made two-dimensional cloth to change into the three-dimensional. As for the cloth which was a plane, which then changes to the solid while it is absorbed in the repetition of the dull work where I sew cloth and to tie it and to dye it. I think that may look like a monotonous daily life. Even if one self isn’t impressed so, a person changes securely in the repetition of the dull daily life again, too. I try to look back on the time when it has passed. Though it is one day ago or it isn’t understood whether it is the one second ago, I certainly have changed. This work is such past self-image.
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Masashi Honda Textile Prints
Living in Shiga, Japan e-mail : m1h9o0n5d4a7@xa2.so-net.ne.jp www004.upp.so-net.ne.jp/hondatx/index.htm Presently Textile Artist, Lecturer 2003 Solo Exhibition (GalleryGallery / Kyoto ) 2001 Meeting Points (N.M.of Scotland. The craft gallery/Edinburgh U.K) 1999 ONLYHUMAN about Body and Soul ( Crafts Council Gallery London U.K.) 1993 Fiber Work/The Repro-Action of Form (The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga) 1992 The 3rd International Textile Competition-Kyoto (Grand Prix) (The Museum of Kyoto) Kyoto City Fresh Wists Award 92 1978 1953
Postgraduate Qualification Kyoto City University of Arts Born in Osaka, Japan
Information technology is all around us. It is an elaborate network which is admirably accessible. Probably, the boundaries between self and non-self,near and far,have become blurred or even non-existent. I put a monochrome part together freely and make a work. I want to make a work going over a boundary line of various things.
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Naomi Nakashima Soft Sculpture
Living in Tokyo, Japan e-mail: nnds@s6.dion.ne.jp Presently: 2007 2006 2005 2003 1999-2000 1998
Artist in_rete 2006 miniartextile Como traveling exhibition - solo and miniartextile -(Hotel de ville Montrouge / FRANCE) (Sardinia / Italy) in_rete 2006 miniartextile Como -solo and miniartextile (como / Italy) ” 05 From Inspired from Creature Collection Exhibition (The National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo / Japan) Parole de la Nature 2005-grerouille- solo exhibition (wacoal Ginza art space /Japan) Parole de la nature’03 -solo exhibition (Musee de L’Impression sur Ettoffes Mulhouse / France) 50 Maitres Les arts appliques dans le Japon contemporain (Mituskoshi Etoile / France / Japan) Parole de la nature 1998 -solo exhibition ( Musee de L’Impression sur Ettoffes Mulhouse / France)
1991 1956
Otuka textile Design insutitute Reserch depertment Born in Yamagata, Japan
A brand-new cloth put on a textile printing stand (a print board) is really beautiful. It seems to be a shame if I print it. But I am excited how wonderful it would be if the piece of cloth’s design became beautiful, light and pleasant. Cloth is very versatile. We can cut it, sew it, put it and wrap it. Cloth is compact and light, and we can carry it anywhere, so it is really superior. As I cut it and sewed it and reversed it and tried to make it form, an interesting thing was completed. It changed into a solid from a plane body. They became lively. A piece of cloth is mysterious. I tried to make it a lot, a lot. They became a big crowd and began to move. The crowd changes colorfully from different angles. They seem to be somewhat of a chameleon, and they are cute, too. I imagined producing a happy space expression in which frogs appear frequently out of nowhere to match the title of Nature’s Talk.
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Shunichiro Nakashima Textile Art / Jewelry
Living in Kanazawa, Japan e-mail :nakasima@kanazawa-bidai.ac.jp Presently Artist, Textile and Jewelry Designer, Assistant Professor of KANAZAWA College of Art 2006 Excellent Prize: Takaoka Craft Competition (Takaoka city Museum/Japan) 2006 Encouragement Prize:Japan Jewelry Art Exhibition (Tokyo, Japan) 2005 Second Prize: International Craft Exhibition-ITAMI- (Itami, Japan) Ensemble Of Six Expressions (21st Century Museum Of Contemporary Art / Kanazawa, Japan) 2004 The Museu Nacional de Bellas Artes De Chile International Textile Art Exhibition (Santiago, Chile) 2002 Survey Fiber 2002 -International exhibit by 83 Artists-(Snyderman Gallery, Works Gallery / Philadelphia, U.S.A.) 2001 Invited Artist: Philadelphia Museum Of Art Craft Show (Philadelphia, U.S.A) 1999 1972
M.F.A. TOKYO National Art University school of the Fine Arts Born in Miya village, Gifu, Japan
This work represents my yearning to Asia. I don’t know deeply enough the culture of Japan and Asia even though I was born and grew up in Japan. A lot of modern Japanese are the same as me. I am working in the fields of the arts and crafts now. Each word is called ”GEIJYUTSU”=art, ”KOGEI”=craft in Japanese. These Japanese words were newly made inside Japan in the middle of19th century. At that time, Japan followed various technologies and science of Western countries to become a modern democratic country. In this situation, the concept of the art and the craft as a word were imported to Japan. So, these words have been common sense among the modern people in Japan, because they were quite a new idea at that time. But I want to pay attention to these concepts, because there were sort of the same ideas of art and craft as beautiful or splendid things, even before we imported these words. Then, how can we express when we talk about those beautiful things? In my opinion, there are no certain words to express these concepts in Japanese. I can say, more or less people forgot that we will find certain words to express art and craft, because the word “GEIJUTU “and “KOGEI” are so familier to us after we imported the Western sense of values. The same matter is happening in many other Asian countries as well. I feel sorry about this. I want to find the words and the ideas of expressing those beautiful things through my research and creative activities.
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Taizo Mori
Sculpture/ Installation Living in Otsu,Japan e-mail : moritaizo@dream.com Presently 2006 2005 2004 2001 1999
Artist, Lecturer of Kyoto Seika University and Osaka Seikei University Criterium69 (Art Tower Mito / Ibaragi, Japan) Sky mountains (Gallery wks. / Osaka, Japan) FALL (CASO / Osaka, Japan) Contemporary Japanese and Danish Art and Craft (Dronninglund Kunstcenter / Denmark) Premonition-S(Gallery Sowaka / Kyoto, Japan) Amorphous “I” (Kyoto Art Center / Japan) Nowadays pleasure trip (Hotel Yoshimizu / Kyoto, Japan)
1999 1974
M.F.A. Kyoto Seika University, Department of Sculpture Born in Osaka, Japan
Using a special technology where tools are not necessary. I want people to recognize their memory and experience, using the matter “whoever can handle” and that should be “in our daily life”. I just use the material that is consumed in our daily life naturally, then I connect the image to the scenery that has never been seen.
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Tohru Ohtaka
Textile(Weaving) Art and Textile Design. Living in Kyoto, Japan. e-mail:toru@to-tex.com www.spinn-aker.co.jp/tohru-ohtaka.htm Present: Associate Professor of Kyoto University of Art and Design. Director of the Textile Design Association of Japan. 23rd Solo Exhibitions 2006 The International Biennial Exhibition on Textile Art”Scythia6” Kherson, Ukraine. 2005-06 8th International Triennial of Miniature Textile in Angers, France. 2005 TEXTILE 05 -KAUNAS ART BIENNIAL, Lithuania. 2005 TRIENNIAL INTERNATIONAL TAPESTRY AND TEXTILE ARTS EXHIBITION. Tournai, Belgium. 2003 Cheongju International Craft Biennale 2003. Cheongju Art Center, Korea. 1988 1964
Graduated Musashino Art University. Born in Akita, Japan.
Today we can easily access information from all over the world by means of the developing media, and some people cannot differentiate between the virtual and the real worlds. Are you avoiding life in the real world? In art we cannot create originality purely by simulation. In my work, a satisfying design cannot be created simply by will or simulation. I am particularly fond of designs that have come about from unintended effects. In recent years I have been putting my own freehand drawing into a graphic digital format, then after creating my weaving designs with a computerized Jacquard loom and actually weaving the piece, I continue to work by hand. In this exhibition I will show two works. One is “Dropping-9901”. It was made by digital weaving machine. And its pattern was made by force hand drawing of ink on Japanese paper. The other is “Senshi-Bankoh”. It was transferred the picture I took to fabric after digital weaving. And “Primitive decoration” is my most important design theme.
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Yuko Takada Keller Soft Sculpture
Living in Helsinge, Denmark e-mail : ytakada@get2net.dk www.yukotakada.com Presently Artist, Curator 2006 Frederiksborg Amts Artists Prize Winners (Hilleroed Bibliotek / Denmark) 2005 Spring Light (Munkeruphus / Dronningmoele, Denmark) 5 th International Triennial in Tournai (Halle-aux-Draps / Tournai, Belgium) 2004 Japanske Vinde (Galleri SPOT/ Frederiksvaerk, Denmark) 2003 “Getting the fir tree” (Gallery Okumura / Tokyo, Space R / Ashiya, Japan) 2002 Holland Paper Biennial 2002 (Museum Rijswijk / Holland) Soft Sculpture From the East Japanese Sense of Beauty (Portalen / Greve, Denmark) 1983 1958
M.F.A. Kyoto City University of Art Born in Osaka, Japan
I’m interested in using tracing paper, because it creates a sense of transparency and etherealness in my work. I used to weave woolen tapestries before I started using tracing paper. Now I’ve been using tracing paper for 20 years. At the beginning of using tracing paper, I hoped my works would remind the viewer of something pure and natural in this world. But I gradually began to be conscious of a skin membrane in between transparency and untransparency that tracing paper has. So I wanted to represent something more, not only pure or natural, in this world. Sometimes we can’t see things visually, but they exist in our mind. Tracing paper has a transparency and an untransparency. I’m interested in how tracing paper is like a skin membrane. The skin membrane lies between dream and reality. The skin membrane lies between consciousness and behavior. The skin membrane is there when life is born. The skin membrane is part of a human being. I want to represent the space that people are aware of The skin membrane is unconsciousness.
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Works
Etsuko Kawamura 6
Kumoi Yajima 22
“ SARABA NATSU” 2006. Oil painting, Silver foil. “Forest Story” 2006. Oil paintng, Platinum foil.
“ WAVE” 1991. WASHI (Japanese hand made paper), tape. “Nikko Earth Work” 1995. WASHI (Japanese hand made paper), tape. “Millennium Beat” 1999. WASHI (Japanese hand made paper, scrap of Japanese paper), tape. Photo by Satoshi Asakawa
Etsuko Tashima 8 “ Cornucopia 02-I” 2002. Ceramic, Grass. “Cornucopia 03-I” 2003. Ceramic, Grass. “Cornucopia 03-II” 2003. Ceramic, Grass. “Cornucopia 02-X” 2002. Ceramic, Grass. Photo by Taku Saiki
Hideo Matsumoto 10 Detail of “Subterranean Moonlight White” 2003. Ceramic. “Water Table A” 2003. Ceramic. Detail of “Water Table B” 2003. Ceramic. Detail of “Subterranean District VI” 2004. Ceramic. Photo by Allan Hansen
Jinta Hasegawa 12 “ in grain / Dronninglund” 2005. Photo print on wood. “in grain / Copenhagen” 2005. Photo print on wood. “in grain / Copenhagen” 2005. Photo print on wood. “in grain / Dronninglund” 2005. Photo print on wood.
Masae Bamba 24 “ Afterimage” 2004. SHIBORI, Polyester. “HANDS” 2004. SHIBORI, Silk. Photo by Makoto Yano “Multiplication” 2005. SHIBORI, Cotton.
Masashi Honda 26
“ Non Title” 2004. Print, Cotton cloth. Detail of “50M Print Cloth” 2005. Print, Cotton cloth.
Naomi Nakashima 28 “Nature’s Talk 2005” 2005. Silk screen hand print, Silk organdie, Wire. Photo by Mareo Suemasa
Shunichiro Nakashima 30
“NIGEMIZU” 2005. Cotton, Wood, Brass, Mineral, Glass, Fossil.
”Circulating Tapestries-Alphabet Shape” 2000. Silk, Wool, Feather, Cotton, Hemp, Rayon, Metal, Paper. “STALK series 1-362” 2003~2006. Silk, Wool, Feather, Cotton, Hemp, Rayon, Metal, Paper. “STALK series 1-362” 2003~2006.
Ken Kagajo 16
Taizo Mori 32
“ Strokes (BAKEMONO)” 2004. Paste resist dyeing, Cotton. “25 meters Storokes” 2002. Paste resist dyeing, Velveteen.
“ FALL” 2005. Paper collage with old magazines. Detail of “FALL” 2005. Detail of “Unknown-infinitude” 2001. 20.000 pieces of Origami, 80.000 pieces of Photo. Detail of “Sea change” 2003. Cutting, Old book, Photo.
Jun Mitsuhashi 14
Koji Hatakeyama 18 “ Lozenge Shaped” 2005. Cast Bronze. “Lozenge Shaped” 2005. Cast Bronze. “Six Faces and Black” 2005. Cast Bronze. “Black Polygon Shaped” 2005. Cast Bronze. Photo by Tomoaki Kanatani
Koji Takaki 20 “ TUI” 2003. Sewing, Cotton. “YUKATA” 2004. Dyeing, Cotton. Detail of “YUKATA” 2004. Dyeing, Cotton. Photo by Takashi Hatakeyama
Tohru Ohtaka 34
“SENSHIBANKO” 2000. Direct computer jacquard weaving. Cotton, Polyester. Detail of “SENSHIBANKO” 2000
Yuko Takada Keller 36 “ Hammock in the Heaven” 2005. Tracing paper, Copper wire. Detail of “Hammock in the Heaven” 2005.
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They made this project possible TOYOTA • FONDEN
Frederiksværk-Hundested Kulturelle Samråd
Thank you! Frederiksværk-Hundested Kommune Litotryk A/S
Nordisk Stål A/S
Arigato
Nordlund Træ A/S
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www.japanese-suppleness.com
Projectgroup: Yuko Takada Keller Helga Jensen - Galleri SPOT Steen Jørgensen - Gjethuset Hans-Jørgen Højvælde - Frederiksværk og Omegns Kunstforening Graphic design: Helga Jensen - rene-linier.dk © 007
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