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Ryu EBATO:What lost in the process of communication
Events
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Published: October 29 2012

[Lost in conversation」
91.0x81.0cm
acrylic on canvas
2012

Angle of eyelashes - in light

Pikaan, Zmmmm.... I felt like I heard such artificial sounds from the works. The children drawn by Ebato,at his first one-man exhibition in 2009, gave out light from their eyes. Those paintings impressed me as highly fictional ones. Rather than having beaming parts, they looked as if they had some illuminant embedded under their skin.
The Ebato’s paintings reminded me of two works in the Japanese art history. One is “Uchu no Kanzume (canned universe)” (1964) by Genpei Akasegawa and the other is “Butsugen-Butsumo-zo” stored at the Kozanji temple in Kyoto Prefecture, which was drawn in the Kamakura Era. Akasegawa put the label on the inside of the can, which should have been placed on the outer surface, and turned the world of the object inside out. He even succeeded in sealing off the universe inside the can. On the other hand,Butsugen-Butsumo-zo depicts Butsugen-Butsumo, who is the personification of the Buddha\'s discerning vision as a symbol of wisdom. The fact that the children held a lighting source inside their body and their eyes materialized its entity was probably the reason why I recalled those two pieces of art.
However, I am not sure the children’s beaming eyes have a function to visually discern an object. If the children emit light using their eyes as an outlet, their sight must be in a state of whiteout and difficult to recognize the outside world. Further, if I am allowed to free up my imagination, Ebato’s another work titled “Hanazakari” (in full bloom, 2010), which features a flower petal fortune-telling, seems to tell about blind love or baseless speculation. Another feature of the work is the dramatic, unusual pose of the children,which adds some mysterious tone to the painting. The painter said he obtained the idea of the pose when he happened to see an action of a child. To my eyes, the children seemed to be fundamentally seeking the reason for emitting light or raison d’être by randomly making various poses.
The Ebato’s works released this year at his first solo exhibition in three years clearly show that the artist has found out a new horizons in his mind. A conspicuous difference from the previous works is that the children are no more emitting light from their bodies while their eyes now recognize the world by receiving light onto the retinas. They also now can adjust their visual angle and eyelids to control information coming from the outside, consciously or unconsciously. This time, I have recalled Italian paintings of the 15th century. The figures facing sideways in Ebato’s works have something in common with the portraits drawn by Pisanello or Piero della Francesca, and the color tone has a dry atmosphere similar to fresco paintings of the era. Moreover, “Ataeru Mono (giver),” Ebato’s another work, has a strong similarity to the Kannon (Goddess of Mercy) statues created in the 6th to 7th century in their profile.
The children’s figures should tempt viewers to read their minds. But most paintings don’t tell what lying ahead the children’s eyes nor give any hint to the children’s attributes or surrounding environment. There is no sound heard from the paintings, too. In front of the work, a viewer will first look at the eyes, head or body of the figure drawn on it and then look for some information from surroundings. After searching around the areas where no concrete objects are drawn, their view will tranquilly land again to the children’s eyes at the end. By experiencing this “round trip” of the eyes, a viewer will begin to feel a sense of intimacy to the figure in the picture without knowing it. The children appeared in the Ebato’s previous works, who had light inside them, seemed to persistently hold questions or doubts about their raison d’être even as they were placed in a staged story along with props.
But the children have now started to seek relations between the world and themselves while drifting between perception and contemplation. All these children, facing sideways, are the same as the previous ones in that they cannot exchange glances with the audience. The angle of their eyelashes,however, which is revealed in the almost vulnerable profile, will make it possible for us to snuggle up to their vector of hearts under a gentle, serene light.

-Maiko Yamauchi(Art Critic)

[作家コメント]
“What lost in the process of communication”
Something incomprehensible is my motivation for creation. When I was a student, my inability to
understand myself was the biggest source of inspiration. Over the three years after graduation,
however, I have come to have more contact with others and been thinking about our communication
as the “object for incomprehensibility.”
We lose what in our mind when we try to express that with words. Even when we have succeeded in
getting our message across to others, I have found, there is some imperfection in what we can
express in words. I have been more aware of what lost between words. It is invisible and
indescribable, but I think it is precious and want to pick and give it a form in one way or another.
What expressed or told are not everything. I now need to pick up something lying behind the explicit.
Ryu Ebato

[作家プロフィール]
Ryu EBATO Biography
1984 Born in Tokyo
2008 Graduated from Tama Art University, Department of Art and Design, Oil Painting, Japan
2010 Finished master course from Tama Art University, Department of Art and Design, Oil Painting,
Japan
Solo Exhibition:
2009 “Emotion” ART AIGA
Group Exhibition:
2012 “GEISHUN”GallerySATORU
2010 “FLOWERS~Like a wildflower”GallerySATORU
2008 “FIXED POINT ‘08”GallerySATORU

opening reception:11/3 17:00-19:00


全文提供:Gallery SATORU
会期:2012.11.3 sat.-25 sun.
時間:11:00~19:00
closed on Monday and Tuesday
会場:Gallery SATORU
Last Updated on November 03 2012
 

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