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Tomoko KONOIKE: Inter-Traveller
Reviews
Written by Satoshi KOGANEZAWA   
Published: October 01 2009

     It seems that figurative artworks have been drawing more attention. “THE VISION OF CONTEMPORARY ART” (“VOCA”), which is a group exhibition that presents planar works made by artists who are forty years old or younger on the recommendation of art experts throughout the country, has been held in the Ueno Royal Museum since 1994. Among the six selectors of the “VOCA 2009”, Akira Tatehata and Eriko Osaka expressed their views on “figurative artworks” briefly when giving their perspective of trends of the exhibits.*1 Tatehata said, “I found high quality and unique orientations, particularly in the figurative works”, and Osaka stated, “Among the exhibits, there is an apparent tendency of embodying an individual view of the world from a dry perspective in today’s chaotic state.” Indeed, not all of the trends found in the exhibits of VOCA are applicable to current tendencies in the various fields of art, but it would be valuable to consider the “embodiment” as a current trend in the world of art.

View from "Tomoko KONOIKE: Inter-Traveller" (2009) © KONOIKE Tomoko, image provided by Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery

”Shira-Spirit from the Wild" (2009); © KONOIKE Tomoko, image provided by Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery

View from "Tomoko KONOIKE: Inter-Traveller" (2009) © KONOIKE Tomoko, image provided by Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery

View from "Tomoko KONOIKE: Inter-Traveller" (2009) © KONOIKE Tomoko, image provided by Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery

     I suppose the issues regarding the trend of “embodiment” are closely connected with the prosperity of “stories” which can also be applied to other fields than those of art history. Today, there are a vast number of novels/movies, each of which is billed as “the most heart-rending story of this year”. The concepts of their stories are fundamentally the same in that they can be classified as tragic love stories in which, for example, two people who love each other are forced to separate due to disease or the death of the other. Therefore, ultimately, we find differences among the stories only in their details. As this example shows, almost everything in today’s world has to be concrete and “easy-to-understand”. Or, perhaps such stories show how people want others to accept their own “irreplaceable stories” in the wave of globalization and diversification of the world. Anyway, in the world today we are surrounded by “stories” of various lengths and they are provided with their own concrete figures, whether they include realistic elements or not.

     Konoike’s solo exhibition entitled “Inter-Traveler - Playing with Mythologies -” (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery) also considered the above-mentioned two trends, namely, “embodiment” and “stories”. Regarding the former, needless to say, embodied subjects, such as wolves, butterflies, skeletons and “mimio” (the name of an animal invented by Konoike) are depicted throughout her worlds of expression. Then, the next topic is “stories”. Indeed, the word “mythologies” which is used in the subtitle of this exhibition does not refer to the world-famous stories included in “God’s Book”, but it evokes for us more primordial “stories” which make us imagine the times prior to the birth of Jesus Christ. As Konoike exhibited her work in a form resembling a picture book which was similar to her past illustrated book named “mimio” (Seigensha, 2001), and as this exhibition itself was composed under the concept of making viewers “journey to the centre of the earth”, we can recognize that the exhibition showed that Konoike was playing a role as a story-teller.. Through the exhibits, we find there are “stories” and “worlds” which Konoike had imagined.

     Nevertheless, not all of the “stories” can be shared among everyone. It would be utterly terrifying if it were possible for all of us to have them in common and deal with them in the same way as “mythologies”. As I have mentioned above, this exhibition was composed in such a way that viewers could “journey to the centre of the earth” which Konoike had formed. Although there was basically only one flow line, there were signs in places saying “Go into the woods” or “Go home” and viewers walked along the route indicated by these signs. Yes, the “mythologies” were depicted on the same road. We, the viewers, had only two choices, namely going ahead or going back, though this exhibition made each viewer feel as if he/she was playing the role of a main character in the exhibition. Whether moving on or not, we had no way of defying the world created by Konoike. In other words, we could only “play” within her “world of imagination”.

     Indeed, this exhibition would be delightful for someone who could “enjoy” walking through exhibition rooms creating different images, as if we were in a theme park. Nonetheless, some story-like exhibits to which descriptions were attached might create an obtrusive impression. Such exhibits made me feel they represented only one of the recent trends of the flowering of “stories”. This exhibition showed us the “stories” generated by Konoike, which might create deep impressions, in a relatively large scale “box”, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery. Although it is easy for us to understand this exhibition, there was a complete lack of reality and therefore, ultimately, it only showed us a virtual entertainment world which was similar to Disneyland. Being easily understandable is not always a bad thing. Nevertheless, I do not agree that we should accept anything that is easy to recognize, such as Konoike’s creations shown in this exhibition, on the grounds that it has been created from an “artist’s” imagination. Today, it is often difficult for us to decide what is right and what is wrong. This is the reason we need to continue to distinguish between good and evil ourselves. We are required to improve the accuracy of “our own” judgment without believing what an “artist” thinks. I would like to enjoy Tomoko Konoike’s exhibition as just an example of a perspective of the world. What do you think?
(Translated by Nozomi Nakayama)

Notes
*1
I have extracted their statements from the “Comments on the Selection VOCA 2009 (VOCA Selection Committee)” posted on the “VOCA 2009” official website. At the following address, you can access all their comments.
http://www.ueno-mori.org/tenji/voca/2009/impression.html
Last Updated on November 03 2015
 

Editor's Note by Takeshi Hirata


The first comprehensive solo exhibition of Tomoko Konoike unfolds a myth on a grand scale. However, the "Myth" seemed so abstract that it was difficult to empathize with it. There was no clear consistency between the "world" of an individual work and the "Myth". Even the sliding screen with a picture could not take an effective role in conveying the exhibition theme, though it was expected to. The "Myth" seemed merely a fantasy that made us feel deja vu, similar to the outlook on the world of Hayao Miyazaki's movie.


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