The Artist File exhibition introduces a group of currently active artists whose work is among the most noteworthy, both in Japan and abroad. This year’s event, the third in the series, features seven artists (six Japanese, one foreign). The exhibitions in the Artist File series have no specific theme. This year’s event presents artists with a wide range of ages, from those in their 30s to those in their 50s, and a variety of expressions, including painting, video, and sculpture, which deal with many different themes. This diversity and complexity helps realize what might be seen as the main objective of the series: to reflect the “reality” of the era. Thus, as the title suggests, one might liken Artist File to a large cabinet in which each artist’s unique perception of “reality” is filed. As viewers take each file in hand, they will make their way through a solo exhibition by each artist and revel in the unique form of “reality” they find there. - Exhibited artists-
FUKUDA Naoyo
Born in 1967 in Saitama. Lives and works in Saitama. While focusing on the relationship between writing and language, and herself and the world, Fukuda Naoyo has evolved a unique world of expression through her palindromic poetry and works that make use of materials such as books and stationery. In this exhibition, Fukuda’s works will include a painting with a mass of minute renderings of the Chinese character for “lotus” that was created as the artist’s graduation work at graduate school; a series of works incorporating books; palindromic printing; and recent works that use business cards and postcards as materials. All of these language-related works will be integrated into a single installation. ISHIDA Takashi
Born in 1972 in Tokyo. Lives and works in Tokyo. Ishida Takashi produces videos documenting the process of creationg abstract paintings using a series of lines. Each brush stroke is documented on a single film frame, and when projected as a sequence, the lines appear to be moving with a life of their own, and free of human intervention, threaten to cover the canvas. The continuous, organic moving imagery that is born out of a still painting recalls the eternity of time and the infinite expanse of universe, and draws the viewer inside with its majestic scale. In this exhibition, we will present a video work shown on a three-part screen, and an installation that consist of scroll paintings and a video documenting its production. KUWAKUBO Toru
Born in 1978 in Kanagawa. Lives and works in Kanagawa. Kuwakubo Toru’s paintings, in which people are seen lying down on the beach among piles of books, are filled with mysterious and fantastic imagery. While representing the artist’s own mental pictures, the works also suggest the bleakness of the contemporary era, in which ties between people have become increasingly weak. Kuwakubo’s use of brushwork and colors that are reminiscent of European masters such as van Gogh, Munch, and Ensor gives the works added strength and depth. In this exhibition, we will present nine works in this style, and ten new works based on a vase motif. Aernout MIK
Born in 1962 in Groningen, Holland. Lives and works in Amsterdam. Aernout Mik, who staged solo shows in the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2009, began his career by making sculptures, and after later becoming involved in photography and installations, devised a unique method of assembling video images. In Mik’s videos, the story initially seems to develop in a lucid way, but the works also contain recurring events and meaningless actions. His installations, in which these images are projected on multiple screens, not only stimulate the viewer visually but provide direct physical sensations. In this exhibition, we present an installation comprising two videos works, Osmosis and Excess (2005) and Touch, Rise and Fall (2008). MINAMINO Kaoru
Born in 1966 in Osaka. Lives and works in Osaka. Minamino Kaoru’s material is ceramic. Although his three-dimensional works are made of fired clay, at first glance, they seem to be constructed out of metal parts. The word “clay” generally calls up images of organic forms that are crafted using bare hands, but Minamino destroys such preconceptions by making technical drawings and molds, and calculating the degree of shrinkage after firing to create sharp, inorganic ceramic forms. In this exhibition, we will introduce two new works representing the artist’s ongoing mission to explore new directions in ceramics. O JUN
Born in 1956 in Tokyo. Lives and works in Tokyo. By exploring the relationship between the subjects he depicts and himself, O JUN produces two-dimensional works in a variety of mediums including painting, drawing, and print-making. As he shifts from one set of materials and methods to another, he continues to devote himself to the act of “depicting.” His pictures – depictions of perfectly ordinary and familiar subjects such as people, buildings, and landscapes with pure lines and flat fields of color – extol a unique brand of fantastic reality, unseating the viewer’s customary way of seeing and thinking about things. In this exhibition, encompassing everything from O JUN’s two-dimensional works from the late 80s, produced by spreading oil pastels across the support medium with his fingers, to his most recent oil paintings, we will present what is in effect a comprehensive retrospective of his career as a painter. SAITO Chisato
Born in 1971 in Tokyo. Lives and works in Chiba. In physics, the world is said to be constructed out of particles. Basing her work on this idea, Saito Chisato began by expressing the form of things we see with “particles.” Initially, she made use of “particles of rice,” followed by a “clover” motif that combined three “particles,” and eventually, this developed into a “bubble“ motif. Saito’s background landscapes, which have an abstract appearance due to the artist’s use of water, are beautifully reflected in each of the bubbles. Along with works of this type, we will present an animated work by Saito that deals with the theme of “particles,” in this exhibition. * The text provided by The National Art Center, Tokyo.