Exhibition/event has ended.
Makoto Saito "Like Nectar Attracting Bees"
Tomio Koyama Gallery Roppongi
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Artists
Makoto Saito
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Makoto Saito achieved success as a graphic designer before he first exhibited his paintings in 2008. In an individual exhibition at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa,“Makoto Saito: SCENE [0]”he showed paintings that accurately reconstructed images appropriated from films but were executed with heavy layers of paint that disguised the fact that they were created with the help of a computer. There are as many different ways of making paintings as there are people, and Saito applied many of these diverse methods as part of his unique approach. He let a third person (the computer) intervene between him and the paintings, creating a sense of detachment and distanceﾓ in pictures of ordinary contemporary people inserted into movie scenes.
For this exhibition, Saito has chosen the female body and sex as his subject. Looking at these pictures up close, all we see are accumulations of paint that take the form of the dots used in the printing process. Moving away, we observe the dots coming together to form an image. The nude body is a major theme that has often been depicted in the history of art, but portrayals of the naked human body have sometimes been criticized from an ethical or moralistic point of view. As a result, artists have ingenuously claimed that they choose the theme of the female nude because of its purely formal beauty and have presented the body in art as an idealistic illusion. Saito believes that art should be both beautiful and sexual, that there is no meaning in artistic representations of the female body that are not erotic. In choosing the female body as a motif, he wants to paint it straightforwardly, fully bringing out its erotic appeal and showing how it arouses a desire for life. His images are based on photographs that he took while engaged in sexual intercourse. Through these works, he asks the question "What is truly beautiful?" in a way that is both challenging and dignified. While protesting a warped view of sex, he is more concerned with criticizing a society that attempts to avoid risks in order to maintain a tepid harmony and the hypocritical people who adroitly conform with such a society.
Makoto Saito achieved success as a graphic designer before he first exhibited his paintings in 2008. In an individual exhibition at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa,“Makoto Saito: SCENE [0]”he showed paintings that accurately reconstructed images appropriated from films but were executed with heavy layers of paint that disguised the fact that they were created with the help of a computer. There are as many different ways of making paintings as there are people, and Saito applied many of these diverse methods as part of his unique approach. He let a third person (the computer) intervene between him and the paintings, creating a sense of detachment and distanceﾓ in pictures of ordinary contemporary people inserted into movie scenes.
For this exhibition, Saito has chosen the female body and sex as his subject. Looking at these pictures up close, all we see are accumulations of paint that take the form of the dots used in the printing process. Moving away, we observe the dots coming together to form an image. The nude body is a major theme that has often been depicted in the history of art, but portrayals of the naked human body have sometimes been criticized from an ethical or moralistic point of view. As a result, artists have ingenuously claimed that they choose the theme of the female nude because of its purely formal beauty and have presented the body in art as an idealistic illusion. Saito believes that art should be both beautiful and sexual, that there is no meaning in artistic representations of the female body that are not erotic. In choosing the female body as a motif, he wants to paint it straightforwardly, fully bringing out its erotic appeal and showing how it arouses a desire for life. His images are based on photographs that he took while engaged in sexual intercourse. Through these works, he asks the question "What is truly beautiful?" in a way that is both challenging and dignified. While protesting a warped view of sex, he is more concerned with criticizing a society that attempts to avoid risks in order to maintain a tepid harmony and the hypocritical people who adroitly conform with such a society.
Schedule | Sep 10 (Sat) 2011-Oct 22 (Sat) 2011 Opening Hours Information
Opening Reception Sep 10 (Sat) 2011 17:00 - 19:00 | ||||
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | http://www.tomiokoyamagallery.com/exhibitions_en/makoto-saito-exhibition-2011_en/ | ||||
| Venue | Tomio Koyama Gallery Roppongi http://www.tomiokoyamagallery.com/ | ||||
| Location | 2F Complex665, 6-5-24 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032 | ||||
| Access | 2 minute walk from exit 1b at Roppongi Station on the Hbiya or Toei Oedo line, 8 minute walk from exit 7 at Azabu-juban Station on the Nanboku or Toei Oedo line, 11 minute walk from exit 5 at Nogizaka Station on the Chiyoda line. | ||||
| Phone | 03-6434-7225 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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