H I R O S H I
S E N J U
H I R O S H I
S E N J U
D AY FA L L S / N I G H T FA L L S
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Established in 2000, Sundaram Tagore Gallery is devoted to examining the exchange of ideas between Western and non-Western cultures. We focus on developing exhibitions and hosting not-for-profit events that encourage spiritual, social and aesthetic dialogues. In a world where communication is instant and cultures are colliding and melding as never before, our goal is to provide venues for art that transcend boundaries of all sorts. With alliances across the globe, our interest in cross-cultural exchange extends beyond the visual arts into many other disciplines, including poetry, literature, performance art, film and music.
H I R O S H I S E N J U
Internationally renowned Japanese painter Hiroshi Senju presents new fluorescent waterfall paintings in the solo exhibition Day Falls/Night Falls at Sundaram Tagore Singapore. Noted worldwide for his sublime waterfall and cliff images, which are often monumental in scale, Hiroshi Senju combines a minimalist visual language rooted in Abstract Expressionism with ancient painting techniques unique to Japan. Widely recognized as one of the few contemporary masters of the thousand-year-old Nihonga style of painting, Mr. Senju began exploring the waterfall image in the early 1990s. He seamlessly combines traditional Japanese techniques and materials such as pigments made from minerals, ground stone, shell and corals suspended in animal-hide glue with a modernist visual vocabulary. With incredible delicacy, he pours translucent paint onto mulberry paper mounted on board, creating the sensation of unrestrained movement. Evoking a deep sense of calm, his waterfalls conjure the appearance, sound, smell and feel of rushing water. For this exhibition, the New York-based artist uses fluorescent pigments, a medium he first explored in 2007. These images appear black and white in daylight but fluoresce an arresting electric blue under ultraviolet light. An ode to the ubiquitous city lights of contemporary existence, Senju’s waterfalls hover between day and night as he straddles the realms of industry and nature, the material and the ethereal. The central portion of the gallery will be retrofitted so the paintings may be experienced under ultraviolet conditions. Here the viewer will be surrounded by two immense waterfall byobu (multi-panel folding screens) that each measure more than eleven-meters wide when fully extended. These painted panels allow the viewer to be completely enveloped in towering, vibrant-blue cascades. Hiroshi Senju was the first Asian artist to receive an Honorable Mention Award at the 46th Venice Biennale (1995) and has participated in exhibitions around the world, including the Beauty Project at the Museum of Contemporary Art, London in 1996; The New Way of Tea, curated by Alexandra Munroe, at the Japan Society and the Asia Society in New York in 2002; and Paintings on Fusuma, at the Tokyo National Museum in 2003. In 2003, Mr. Senju completed seventy-seven murals at Jukoin, a sub-temple of Daitokuji, a prominent Zen Buddhist temple in Japan. In 2004, he was the art director for the new Haneda Airport International Passenger Terminal in Tokyo, where he completed one of his largest installations. The Benesse Art Site of Naoshima Island, designed by Tadao Ando, also houses two large-scale installations. Hiroshi Senju’s work is in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, Japan; the Yamatane Museum of Art and Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo; and the Kushiro Art Museum, Hokkaido, Japan. The Hiroshi Senju Museum Karuizawa, designed by Ryue Nishizawa, opened in October 2011 in Japan. In Singapore, Mr. Senju has completed notable large-scale public works at the OUB Centre and Tower 2 of One Raffles Place. 7
Waterfall (Day), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 70.8 x 51.2 inch/180 x 130 cm
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Waterfall (Night), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 70.8 x 51.2 inch/180 x 130 cm
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Ryujin I (Day), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 94.5 x 448.8 inches/240 x 1,140 cm 12
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Ryujin I (Night), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 94.5 x 448.8 inches/240 x 1,140 cm 14
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Waterfall (Day), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 76.3 x 102 inch/184 x 259 cm
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Waterfall (Night), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 76.3 x 102 inch/184 x 259 cm
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Waterfall (Day), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 63.8 x 179 inch/162 x 455 cm 20
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Waterfall (Night), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 63.8 x 179 inch/162 x 455 cm 22
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Waterfall (Day), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 102 x 76.3 inch/259 x 194 cm
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Waterfall (Night), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 102 x 76.3 inch/259 x 194 cm
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Ryujin II (Day), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 94.5 x 448.8 inch/240 x 1,140 cm 28
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Ryujin II (Night), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 94.5 x 448.8 inch/240 x 1,140 cm 30
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Waterfall (Day), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 71.6 x 89.5 inch/182 x 253 cm
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Waterfall (Night), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 71.6 x 89.5 inch/182 x 253 cm
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Waterfall (Day), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 63.8 x 63.8 inch/162 x 162 cm
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Waterfall (Night), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 63.8 x 63.8 inch/162 x 162 cm
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Waterfall (Day), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 51.3 x 152.6 inch/130 x 388 cm 40
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Waterfall (Night), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 51.3 x 152.6 inch/130 x 388 cm 42
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Waterfall (Day), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 63.8 x 63.8 inch/162 x 162 cm
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Waterfall (Night), 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 63.8 x 63.8 inch/162 x 162 cm
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C U R R I C U LU M VITAE 1958 1982 1984 1987
Lives and works in New York Born in Tokyo BFA, Tokyo University of the Arts MFA, The Graduate School of Tokyo University of the Arts (graduation work purchased by Tokyo University of the Arts) Completed the PhD program in Fine Arts at Tokyo University of the Arts (graduation work purchased by The University of Tokyo)
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2013 Day Falls/Night Falls, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong 2012 Cliffs, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York 2010 Senju Hiroshi: World of Blue—Echoes of Higashiyama Kaii, Higashiyama Kaii Setouchi Museum, Kagawa, Japan 2009 New Light from Afar, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly Hills, California Out of Nature: Cliffs and Falling Water, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong 2007 Haruka Naru Aoi Hikari, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York Hyakubashira wo Tateru, Kusokuzeshiki, Senju Hiroshi (Building One Hundred Pillars, Emptiness is the Form, Hiroshi Senju), Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Nagano, Japan 2006 The 6th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea Hiroshi Senju, Yamatane Museum of Art, Tokyo 2005 Hiroshi Senju, 77 Fusuma (sliding screens), Daitoku-ji Temple, Fukuoka Asian Museum, Fukuoka, Japan 1998 Tidewater Gallery Shiraishi, Tokyo 1996 Hiroshi Senju, Waterfalls & Glasses, The Hakone Open-Air Museum, Kanagawa, Japan 1995 Hiroshi Senju, Taipei Fine Arts Museum NICAF Pacifico Yokohama, Japan 1994 Hiroshi Senju: 1980-1994, Takamura Museum, Yamanashi, Japan 1993 Flatwater, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York 1989 The End of the Dreams, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney 1988 SENJU, Galeria Forni, Bologna, Italy
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SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2011 WATER, FIRE and EARTH, the source of creativity, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Japan The 5th Chengdu Biennale, China Facing East, Contemporary Asian Art, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York Vision of Nature, Lost and Found, in Asian Contemporary Art, Hong Kong Arts Centre 2010 The Invitations to 20th Century Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan Masterpiece Collection of Saku Municipal Museum of Modern Art, Takasaki Tower Museum of Art, Gunma, Japan Rasa, Contemporary Asian Art, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong 2009 Here and Now, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York 2008 Still / Motion: Liquid Crystal Painting, Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Mie, Japan (traveled to The National Museum of Art, Osaka; and Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography) Dimensions of Color, An Asian Group Show, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly Hills, California In Your Mind’s Eye, an Asian Group Show, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York 2007 Lights and Shadows, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly Hills, California Masterpiece Collection of Yamatane Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, Japan 2006 Here and Now, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong 2003 Paintings on Fusuma (sliding screens), the Jukoin Annex of Daitoku- ji Temple, Tokyo National Museum Kaiga no Genzai (Present Day Art), Bandaijima City Museum, Niigata, Japan Contemporary Japanese Painting, Okazaki Mindscape Museum, Aichi, Japan Essence of Contemporary Nihonga Kumamoto, City Modern Art Museum, Kumamoto, Japan
2002 The New Way of Tea, Japan Society Gallery, Asia Society Museum, New York The Scent and Shape of Ink, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul 2000 Hiroshi Senju, Yuki Ikenobo, Takahiro Kondo Takashimaya Gallery, Osaka (and other cities) 1995 46th Biennale di Venezia 1990 History of Japanese-Style Painting, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan
ART DIRECTION 2011 2010 2004
New building for Japan Railways Hakata Station, Fukuoka APEC Japan 2010, Yokohama New Tokyo International Airport; International Terminal and expanded Terminal 2 Tokyo International Airport, Haneda, Terminal 2
SELECTED COLLECTIONS HONORS & AWARDS
Hiroshi Senju Museum Karuizawa, Japan Tokyo University of the Arts University of California, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Yamatane Museum of Art, Tokyo The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, Japan Kushiro Art Museum, Hokkaido The National Museum of Art, Osaka Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art MOA Museum of Art, Shizuoka, Japan
2002 Grand Prize, 13th MOA Mokichi Okada Award, Japan 2000 Michiaki Kawakita Award, for Life, exhibited in Ryoyonome Exhibition: Painting in the 21st Century, Japan Konju-hosho (Dark Blue Ribbon Medal) for Hachigatsu no Sora to Kumo (August Sky and Clouds), collected by Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art 1995 Honorable Mention Award, 46th Biennale di Venezia 1994 Fourth Kenbuchi Picture Book Award for When Stardust Falls..., Japan BIBLIOGRAPHY
ARCHITECTURAL ART COMMISSIONS 2012 Installation, OUB Centre, Singapore 2010 Installation, Ayu no kaze, Akane sasu, (Water Shrine, Passing Cloud), Haneda Airport, International Terminal, Tokyo 2009 Installation, Art House Project, Ishibashi, Benesse Art Site, Kagawa, Japan 2008 Wall painting, Akasaka Biz Tower, TBS Broadcasting Center, Tokyo 2007 Paintings on fusuma (sliding screens) at Shofuso Japanese House and Garden, Philadelphia 2006 Installation, Naoshima Standard 2, Benesse Art Site, Kagawa, Japan 2005 Installation, Lexus L-Finesse, Milano Salone, Teatro Arte, La Triennale di Milano 2003 Mural for the foyer of The Grand Hyatt Hotel, Tokyo
2010 Hiroshi Senju, Skira Editore, Milan 2007 Hiroshi Senju—My Waterfall and in Addition to My Waterfall, Kyuryudo 2004 Ewo Kaku Yorokobi (The Joy of Painting), Kobunsha Shinsho 2003 Ningen Koza: Hiroshi Senju, Bi wa Toki wo Koeru (Human Seminar: Hiroshi Senju, Beauty Over Time), Japan Broadcast Publishing Co., Ltd. 2002 Hiroshi Senju: Series of paintings on fusuma (sliding screens) at the Jukoin Annex of Daitoku-ji Temple, Kyuryudo Mizuno Oto (Sound of Water), Shogakukan 1999 Hiroshi Senju & Tatsuo Miyajima Dialogue: Gimonfu to shiteno Geijutsu (Art as a Question), Bijutsu Nenkansha 1994 Hoshi no Furuyo ni (When Stardust Falls...), picture book, Fuzambo
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S U N D A R A M TA G O R E G A L L E R I E S new york new york hong kong singapore
547 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001 • tel 212 677 4520 fax 212 677 4521• gallery@sundaramtagore.com 1100 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10028 • tel 212 288 2889 57-59 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong • tel 852 2581 9678 fax 852 2581 9673 • hongkong@sundaramtagore.com 01-05 Gillman Barracks, 5 Lock Road, Singapore 108933 • tel 65 6694 3378 • singapore@sundaramtagore.com
President and curator: Sundaram Tagore Director, New York: Susan McCaffrey Director, Hong Kong: Faina Derman Designer: Russell Whitehead
WWW.SUNDARAMTAGORE.COM Text © 2015 Sundaram Tagore Gallery Photographs © 2015 Hiroshi Senju
Art consultants: Teresa Kelley Bonnie B. Lee Gabrielle Mattox Deborah Moreau Benjamin Rosenblatt Raj Sen Melanie Taylor David Turchin Addison Ying
All rights reserved under international copyright conventions. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Cover: Waterfall (Night) detail, 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 71.6 x 89.5 inch/182 x 253 cm Pages 4 and 5: Hiroshi Senju, Day Falls/Night Falls installation, Sundaram Tagore Gallery Hong Kong, 2013