Noe Aoki, Yusuke Asai, Muneteru Ujino, Machiko Ogawa, Yoshiaki Kaihatsu, Akiko Kinugawa, Tadasu Takamine, Takuro Tamayama, Tadasu Yamamoto

Group Exhibition

MATTER(s)

2024.6.8 (Sat.) - 7.7 (Sun.)

Open：12:00 – 18:00
*July 6 (Sat.) : 12:00 – 20:00
Closed on Sundays, Mondays, and holidays.
*However, the gallery will be open on the Sunday at July 7.

Opening reception : June 8 (Sat.) 17:00 − 19:00 
TAC GALLERY NIGHT：July 6 (Sat.) 17:00 – 20:00 *The artists will attend the gallery.

Yusuke Asai, Vipunen with Abundant Songs (2017)
Soil, acrylic-resin, acrylic, color pencil and pencil on canvas, H146×W112cm, photo : Fuyumi Murata

We are pleased to announce the upcoming group exhibition of works by nine artists, titled MATTER(s) and running from June 8 (Sat.) to July 7 (Sun.), 2024.

The word “matter” in the title is translated in many ways in Japanese. The translations include words also meaning “material,” “case,” “problem,” and “important.” In the plural, it can also be translated with the words for “circumstances” and “situation.” It comes from the Latin word materia, and corresponds to the word hylē in ancient Greek (in Aristotelian philosophy, it corresponds to “material” in the material-form dichotomy * ). Furthermore, the word “materia” itself is derived from mētēr and mater, Greek and Latin, respectively, for “mother.” From this, it can be seen that “matter” is not simply substance; it is a place where something comes into being.

The composition of this exhibition revolves around “matter” as its key word. How do artists face “matter” (materials, cases, problems, etc.), how does “matter” (artwork) exist, and what sort of “matters” (circumstances, situations, etc.) result?

MATTER(s) begins with works byYusuke Asai (b.1981).He continues with his unrestrained creation of art in all sorts of places, using familiar materials such as soil, water, dust, flour, tape, and pens. His works also vary in scale, which he freely adjusts to the host site and environment, and range from little drawings to all-over works covering the entire room and huge murals.

Machiko Ogawa (b.1946) became convinced that “form already exists” from the beauty of minerals that enchanted her while she pursued studies in Paris. In keeping with this belief, she continues to produce works that actively apply distortions, cracks, chips, wrinkled glaze, and other properties, and involve the double meaning of creation and destruction.

Machiko Ogawa, Untitled (1995), Ceramic clay, white glaze, H37×W67×D30cm

Akiko Kinugawa (b.1986) believes that a realm of unlimited equality spreads out behind all living beings composing the world. Through her technique of applying thin layer after layer of oil paints as if smearing them on the canvas, she produces smudged images of life that seem to float up vaguely and keep slowly changing.

Akiko Kinugawa, That day’s mountain and the other day’s mountain (2021), Oil on canvas, H91×W116.7cm, photo:Kei Okano

Yoshiaki Kaihatsu (b.1966~) is an artist whose modes of expression cover a wide range including paintings, photography, video, and installations. In each work, he provides sharp insights into the times and society, and prompts viewers to use their own powers of autonomous contemplation.

Yoshiaki Kaihatsu, N/Z (2022), Fluorescent light, code and stainless board, video, H100×W100×D11.5cm, photo:Ichiro Mishima

Exercising his abilities for keen observation, Tadasu Takamine (b.1968) takes up preconceptions of contemporary society and problems that many people have become blind to. With witty compositions and visualizations by means of bodily expression, he poses questions for viewers to ponder.

Tadasu Takamine, God Bless America (2002), Full HD video (animation) shingle channel, 8min 45sec

Proceeding from the exploration of photographs as matter, Tadasu Yamamoto (b.1950) continues to take photos mainly of water as a topos for encounter with light.

Tadasu Yamamoto, Light, Water, Electricity 27, (2011), gelatin-silver print, H120×W183cm

Noe Aoki (b.1958) continues to produce works made chiefly of iron. Her works bring abundant change into space and easily overturn the established concept equating sculptures with masses of material.

“All that floats down” Installation view, Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, 2019, photo:Tadasu Yamamoto
Noe Aoki, mizu no todomarutokoro (where water remains) (2019), Bronze, water, each H14.5cm, φ64cm

With minimal methodology, Takuro Tamayama (b.1990) dissimilates space or emphasizes natural reason in order to shake up the bodily sensation and perception of viewers.

“Medium and Dimension Liminal” Installation view, Kakinokisou, Tokyo, 2022, photo:Takaaki Akaishi
Takuro Tamayama, M.B (2022), stainless steel, φ40cm

Muneteru Ujino (b.1964) has researched the material world in society, which has been oriented toward production and consumption in massive quantities since the 20th century. In Lives in Japan, his contribution to this exhibition, the installation replaces objects with information in the form of video. It is his first installation to consider the contemporaneity of matter heading toward illusion and what he calls “material matter.”

“Plywood City Stories” Installation view, ICC, Tokyo, 2019, photo:Keizo Kioku
Muneteru Ujino, Lives in Japan (2018), Video installation : 6ch synchronized video, 6ch sound, 10min 45sec

*“In the central theory of Aristotle’s natural science as set forth in his Physics and Metaphysics, natural objects are composed of two fundamental principles: the material hylē as a potential, passive, unregulating principle, and morphē (form) as a real, active, regulating principle.”
Source: translated from the Japanese edition of the Britannica International Encyclopedia entry

[Related Information]
Yusuke Asai
At present, a large solo exhibition titled Yusuke Asai: Stardust KIDs is being held to great acclaim at the Kanaz Forest Creation Art Museum. Over the three-day period of July 5 – 7, Asai is going to hold a special exhibition of his new work the Forest of All Living Things at Yokohama Museum of Art and show works at the Tokyo Gendai art fair to be held over the same period at Pacifico Yokohama. (Anomaly will be represented at this fair by the artist Keisuke Tanaka in addition to Asai.)

Yoshiaki Kaihtsu
The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo is going to hold a solo exhibition of works by Kaihatsu, titled Yoshiaki Kaihatsu: ART IS LIVE — Welcome to One Person Democracy. This exhibition will run from August 3 to November 10, 2024.