Frantic Gallery is glad to present the first solo show of the young New Media artist Macoto Murayama who uses cut-edge software and 3D modeling to create the synthetic image, combining soft organic forms of plants with cold visuality of technical sketches. While working on the borderline of art and science, this contemporary artist opens new possibility for Botanical Illustration in Digital Age at the same time bringing attention to the aesthetic potential of engineer diagrams.

We would like to use this opportunity to display in details the process of the creation of Murayama’s Flowers. He starts with the research of existing flora making vivisection of the flower, taking multiple close-up photos and drawing sketches of its parts. Afterwards he moves to the digital dimension applying several softwares: 3ds Max for the form and structure, Adobe Photoshop for separate parts and composition, Adobe Illustrator to add indications of elements, scale and scientific names. Finally he makes large scale digital c-print, framing it into transparent plexiglas.

“ Inorganic Flora” Exhibition will present the context of Murayama’s work in historical perspective and in connection with both technical art and botanical art. His “Inorganic Flora” from one side refers to botanical illustration of Ancient Greece as well as sketches of pioneer of Japanese botany Tomitaro Makino or images from Karl Blossfeldt’s “Art Form in Nature”. From another side Murayama’s flower takes root in works of master of automobile illustration Yoshihiro Inomoto, The Art of Engenere in the age of Industrial Revolution and X-Ray art of late 20th century.

During this first solo show of Muarayama we would like to clarify the hierarchy of his digital drawings and multiple links in the vast body of his works. We will present “Inorganic Flora” in two main parts, namely “Botanical Diagram” (flower images with textual and mathematical indications) and “Botech Art” (combination of Botanical Art and Techinical Art, which stresses 3-dimensional quality of the image and its color spectrum). The exhibition will be featured by Inorganic Flora Matrix composed of more than 40 Botech Art works and the latest nearly two meters Botanical Diagram.

Due to this unique approach to the ancient tradition of depicting flowers Murayama has already attracted vast attention of foreign press. His artistic method was described in WIRED magazine (USA), Inspirations (France), Telegraph (UK), Focus (Italy, Poland), Japan – lives and styles- (Russia), Muy Interesante (Spain) and so on. His images were presented on the cover of United Nations conference booklet dedicated to the protection of nature to illustrate coexistence of high technology and delicate organisms. Murayama’s works were chosen for the catalogues of Première Vision (Paris) and Directions by Indigo (New-York), the world’s premier fabric shows, to illustrate the concept of “ethereal structures” and represent the atmosphere of season 2012. You can find his flowers in corporate video of Panasonic Hollywood Laboratories as well as on the cover of “Asia Digital Art Award 2008” where he took Grand Prix in Still Images section.

Planned for opening on the 18th of March, “Inorganic Flora” Exhibition is going to reveal emerging talent of the Japanese art-scene, which in his own way manifests the strongest features of his native culture, namely the unity of sensitivity and preciseness, shaped with by latest technologies.

Macoto Murayama
1984 Born in Kanagawa
2007 Miyagi University, Information Design Dept., Spatial Design course, B.A.
2008 A member of The Japanese Association of Botanical Illustration
2009 Institute of Advanced Media Art and Sciences (IAMAS), Media
Expression Dept., completed.
2009-2010 Researcher at IAMAS

Solo Exhibitions
2011 “Inorganic Flora”, Frantic Gallery, Tokyo

Group Exhibition
2010 "2010 FRANTIC UNDERLINES", Frantic, Gallery, Tokyo
2009 "Exhibition of Objects Under Observation"(with Toshitaka Mochizuki), art project frantic, Tokyo
2009 "My Favorite Things, Unseal Contemporary and art project frantic Joint Exhibition", Tokyo
2009 "Art Award Tokyo Marunouchi 2009", Gyoko-dori Underground Gallery, Tokyo
2009 "PLAYING BACK SURFACE Ⅱ - digital images of contemporary art - ", Toyota Municipal Museum of Art Civic Gallery, Aichi, Japan
2009 "IAMAS 2009", Softopia Japan Center Builiding, Gifu, Japan
2008 "OGAKI BIENNALE 2008", Takaya-cho Underpass, Gifu, Japan

Awards
Asia Digital Art Award
Important Private Collections
Pigozzi Collection, Geneva

Bibliography
Sonia Zjawinski, "Cut Flowers", WIRED Magazine, U.S.A., 2010
Rodion Trofimchenko, “Time as an Object of Art”, Japan –Lives and Styles -, Embassy of Japan in Russia, 2010
PREMiERE ViSiON catalogue, France, 2010
"The Technical and The Poetic", INSPIRATIONS Magazine, MAISON & OBJET PARIS, France, 2010
Focus Magazine, Poland, 2010
Low Carbon Leader Initiative, United Nations Conference leaflet, 2010
Abraham Alonso, “El Jardin Digital”, Muy Interesante, Spain, 2010
Asia Digital Art Award 2008 Exhibition Catalogue, Japan, 2008

Curator: ENTOMORODIA curatorial net/work
Media support: Media Surf Communication - www.mediasurf.co.jp -

* The text provided by Frantic Gallery.

Period: March 18 - 27, 2011
Venue: Frantic Gallery
Reception: March 18, 2011, 18:00 - 20:00