|
|
| ARTIFACTS |
|
The technique used to create terracotta sculptures (like the warriors in Xian, China) is so ancient that it’s always interesting to see how it is applied to contemporary works. And we now have the opportunity to do just that,
as Belgian sculptor Myriam Eykens presents her exhibition “Moments”
at Gallery Strenger in Azabu-Juban. Eykens’ terracotta works are an intriguing mix of old and new—the graceful young women in gentle poses are decorated with natural pigments and bronze. Also included are pastel portraits. “I hope to comfort people in their search for eternal beauty and serenity,” says the artist. Well-known in Europe, Eykens is also collected in the US and South America. This is her first solo show in Japan. Gallery Strenger opened last September with a group exhibition that included Eykens work.
Through May 24, Gallery Strenger. See exhibition listings (Akasaka/Roppongi) for details. LB
|
|
PAST
ISSUES
|
|
| | |
By Andrew
Conti
And or Versus?
: Adventures in Images
 |
Yukinori Yanagi, Banzai
Corner, 1991, plastic dolls, mirror, 90.0x183.0x183.0cm
Courtesy of Yokohama Museum of Art |
In 1989, the Yokohama Museum of Art opened
its doors and embraced a mission of documenting the city’s
history and its importance as a bridge between East and West.
The museum has since collected and exhibited works by important
artists from around the world and followed the development
of modern Japanese art.
“And or Versus? : Adventures in Images” marks the
museum’s 15th anniversary while pondering its relevance
to the surrounding neighborhood, as well as to the contemporary
art world. An eclectic portion of the museum’s 7,800-piece
collection is on display for what the curators hope is a fun
and educational tour through modern and contemporary art.
From the exhibit’s beginning, painfully kawaii paw prints
on the floor and an intricate map outline a specific route
through four broadly defined and user-friendly “worlds”
of art. The first of these is “Panoramic World,”
which displays a mix of Western and Japanese surrealist paintings.
Perennial crowd pleaser Salvador Dali’s triptych, Fantastic
Landscape-Dawn, Heroic Noon, Evening occupies a central focus
here. Sprawling across the floor below, in slightly awkward
positioning, is the slate rock sculpture England Japan Circles
by Richard Long.
 |
|
Yasumasa
Morimura, Playing with God I: Early Afternoon, 1991,
color on type C print, 348.0x246.0cm
Courtesy of Yokohama Museum of Art
|
After this somewhat lackluster beginning,
the show gains energy with some contemporary video and film
pieces. Tatsuo Miyajima’s Floating Time V2-08 Spring
Green is a bright green field projected onto the floor of
a darkened room, as multicolored numbers float by like numerical
insects. Takashi Ito’s dizzying SPACY film zooms around
an empty gymnasium, while Jun Miyazaki’s A Little Planet
follows a bouncing ball on a tour of urban landscapes. Lastly,
the fascinating meditative scenery of Hiroshi Yamazaki’s
Heliography is a dreamy rotating abstraction of the horizon.
From here visitors enter “Atomic World,” where the
theme is small components placed together to create single
images. The room’s centerpiece is Yayoi Kusama’s
phallus and fruit accumulation Walking on the Sea of Death.
Yukinori Yanagi collects several hundred hanko ink-stamps
into a memorable image of the Hinomaru, Japan’s national
flag. Also, in the near corner, Yanagi faces a small army
of Ultraman and Ultra 7 dolls against mirrors to create a
similar image.
The “Virtual Reality World” room offers some alluring
pieces under the show’s silliest title. Here, a series
of Andy Warhol’s neon prints of John F. Kennedy’s
assassination hang alongside Yasumasa Morimura’s wall-sized
photo/painting montage Playing with God. The latter features
Morimura and a cast of Barbie dolls frolicking through a 16th-century
oil painting of Christ’s crucifixion.
 |
Yayoi Kusama, Walking
on the Sea of Death, 1981, mixed media, 58.0x158.0x256.0cm
Courtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo |
“Pinhole World” (i.e., the photography
section) finishes the show with a few interesting highlights,
such as Barbara Bloom’s subtle light-box prints of UFOs
and the high-contrast cityscape imagery of Tomoko Isoda and
Osamu Fujita.
Finally, before being folded away, the exhibition map directs
visitors to Isamu Noguchi’s Sun at Midnight and Susumu
Shingu’s Wind Musical Notes. These two permanently installed
sculptures feel like disconnected additions to the otherwise
tightly curated show.
There are several pieces that stand out with genuine strength
in “And or Versus,” but, as such wide-ranging exhibitions
tend to be, it’s still a mixed bag of the surprisingly
good and the outright boring. And while the trendy newspeak
used to categorize the work may seem heavy-handed and slightly
silly at times, the show as a whole is a refreshing breath
of playful hipness in the occasionally stuffy Minatomirai
institution.
Yokohama Museum of Art Until June
27. 3-4-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama. Fri-Wed 10am-6pm,
closed Thu. Adm: adults ¥800, students ¥600, children
¥300. Nearest stn: Minatomirai line, Minatomirai stn.
Tel: 045-221-0300.
www.art-museum.city.yokohama.jp
|
