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Issei Kurihara Solo Exhibition “Is this rain just water?”
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Published: December 14 2011

Issei Kurihara《Yarimizuyama》2011
65.2x80.3|oil on canvas
Courtesy of the artist and Tokyo Gallery + BTAP

Tokyo Gallery + BTAP is pleased to announce Kurihara Issei’s solo exhibition, “Is this rain just water?”. Two years since the artist’s previous solo show, this exhibition will present 15 new works.

Issei Kurihara was born in 1967 in the city of Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture. Since completing graduate-level research at Tama Art University in 1995, he has shown his paintings and installations at numerous solo shows and group exhibitions. In addition to his own artwork, Kurihara continues to maintain a diverse practice – he established the art space Gallery Stump in Kamakura in 2005, as well as Alternative Space Gel, featuring interiors that he designed himself, in 2011. In addition, he is currently a full-time oil painting instructor in the department of painting at Tama Art University.

Kurihara’s paintings do not have a clear center of focus: instead, a whole panoply of images wander across the surface of his canvas. Rendered in vivid colors, the subjects of these multiple images cannot be easily identified at first glance – are they human, animal, plant, or simply an assortment of shapes and figures? Lacking clearly defined outlines, these ambiguous images seem to embody a number of equivocal meanings. Sequences of lines emerge only to dissipate again, creating a floating sensation that makes the work seem to drift beyond the boundaries of the frame.

According to the artist, the act of painting produces a “plurality of selves” with no final, predetermined conclusion or destination. By painting in a way that precludes the possibility of making these artistic decisions, Kurihara creates a succession of forms and shapes that cannot be reduced to a sequence of specific images. “Painting in this way, in a state of presentness that offers you a diversity of different choices, gives rise to things that are totally unexpected, and allows me to discover a new identity, a new sense of self.”

The title of this exhibition, “Is this rain just water?”, is based on Kurihara’s own personal experience of standing in the rain. It refers to the instant in which raindrops fall onto our palm – a moment that prompts a shift in our consciousness, which recognizes them as “just water”. In the same way, Kurihara recreates the real world – a floating world of transient phenomena, adrift in a sea of vagueness – on his canvas. We hope you take this opportunity to view this new, enticing world through Kurihara’s eyes.

Issei Kurihara
1967 Born in Yokohama City, Japan
1993 B.A Painting Major, Painting Department, Tama Art University
1995 Master of Fine Arts, Tama Art University
2005 Jointly established Gallery Stump, Kamakura, Japan
2011  Jointly established Alternative Space Gell, Tokyo
Currently oil painting instructor in the department of painting at Tama Art University.

Solo Exhibitions
2011 “Is this rain just water?” Tokyo Gallery + BTAP (Tokyo)
2008 “Blindsight” Tokyo Gallery + BTAP (Tokyo)
2003 “Mutou: Karmic Landscape” Tokyo Gallery + BTAP (Tokyo)
Base Gallery (Tokyo)
2001 “The 2nd Memorial Prize Exhibition for Fostering Artists” Sezon Art Program & Gallery (Tokyo)
Base Gallery (Tokyo)
2000 “Catching Rain” Gallery Te (Tokyo)

Group Exhibitions
2011 “Ryota, Issei and Taketo / Drawing Exhibition” Alternative Space Gel (Tokyo)
2010  “micro salon 60” Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo
2010 “Contemporary Art of China and Japan” Busan Museum of Art (Korea)
2008 “Milestones” Tokyo Gallery + BTAP (Beijing)
2007 “BTAP – Works in Progress” Tokyo Gallery + BTAP (Beijing)
“SKIP!” Gallery Stump Kamakura (Kanagawa)
2006 “You and I Aren’t Here ~ weather’s Fine” Gallery Stump Kamakura (Kanagawa)
2004 “New Tokyo Gallery Exhibition” Tokyo Gallery + BTAP (Tokyo)
2002 “The 17th Concurrent Art Exhibition: Aren’t Cherry Blossoms Fragrant?” Espace OHARA (Tokyo)
2001 “Exhibition from the Sezon Contemporary Art Museum Collection by Kobayashi Yasuo”
Sezon Contemporary Art Museum (Karuisawa, Japan)
“Seeking Form: 11 Japanese Artists” Busan Metropolitan Art Museum (Korea)



The text provided by: Tokyo Gallery + BTAP


Period: 2011.12.2(Fri)-12.27(Tue)
Gallery hours:  (Tue-Fri)11:00-19:00 (Sat)11:00-17:00
*Closed on Sundays, Mondays and Holidays 
Opening reception 2011.12.10(Sat)16:00-18:00
Venue: Tokyo Gallery + BTAP
Last Updated on December 02 2011
 

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