Atsushi Kaga "While I Am Touching the Sleeping Cat, I Feel as if I Know You Were There."
Maho Kubota Gallery
Until Jun 1
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Artists
Atsushi Kaga
In this exhibition, a series of paintings on six canvases are arranged around pillars made of natural wood and tatami mats. Unlike Atsushi Kaga's previous solo exhibitions, each painting is not hung on the gallery wall. Instead, multiple canvases are assembled as elements of the indoor space, creating a unified and painting-like world. According to Kaga, the concept of this installation-like arrangement was inspired by the mural painting "Grapes and Small Birds" by Jakuchu Ito, permanently exhibited at Shotei Pavilion Museum in Shokoku-ji Temple, Kyoto. Kaga observed how Jakuchu's work, depicted on one wall with a difference in height, resembled an installation artwork, leading to the plan for this exhibition to similarly position paintings as architectural elements. Moreover, considering that the original mural was likely intended to be viewed from a low perspective, in the new works for this exhibition, Kaga has adjusted the balance and arrangement of elements on the six canvases to lower the center of gravity of the paintings compared to Western paintings.
This lower perspective position is what Kaga refers to as the "Ozu perspective," inspired by the distinctive camera work of Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu. It represents a viewpoint that naturally arises from traditional Japanese lifestyles and is one of the fading aesthetic styles in contemporary Japan. "One of the attempts this time is to lower the viewer's perspective and create artworks that coexist with the living space. I thought that by doing so, my works would be appreciated not from the axis of Western painting history but from the perspective of Japanese painting history. I hope that a different experience of appreciation, both physically and intellectually, will be born," Kaga says.
When focusing on the entire painting, one can see various elements gently arranged within the expansive landscape from spring to summer. Carefully depicted seasonal flowers and gentle expressions of the wind, as well as symbolic animals, captivate the viewer's heart. On the left two canvases, amidst the scene of the spring light overflowing with gold leaf, the figures of a black cat and a fox are depicted as if suddenly looking up at the sky. In the two middle canvases, cats floating in midair connect the space, camellias bloom magnificently, and on the left canvas, against the pitch-black backdrop of the night, two deer are depicted calling out, and the mysterious fox, which has appeared in Kaga's recent works many times, once again emerges and disappears into the night. Beyond the gaze of the animals lies the endless expanse of the world, and in the almost center, "Usacchi," a "deadpan" rabbit character, sits low on the ground, quietly observing the changing world while immersed in the colors of nature. Amidst the expansive and rich painting world that stands with universality, several intimate and delicately woven stories containing intimacy and sadness are quietly told through various mystical symbols.
The exhibition title, "While I Am Touching the Sleeping Cat, I Feel as if I Know You Were There," sounds like a secretive riddle that suggests the warmth of the cat you are touching and the presence of "you" who cannot touch it now.
This lower perspective position is what Kaga refers to as the "Ozu perspective," inspired by the distinctive camera work of Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu. It represents a viewpoint that naturally arises from traditional Japanese lifestyles and is one of the fading aesthetic styles in contemporary Japan. "One of the attempts this time is to lower the viewer's perspective and create artworks that coexist with the living space. I thought that by doing so, my works would be appreciated not from the axis of Western painting history but from the perspective of Japanese painting history. I hope that a different experience of appreciation, both physically and intellectually, will be born," Kaga says.
When focusing on the entire painting, one can see various elements gently arranged within the expansive landscape from spring to summer. Carefully depicted seasonal flowers and gentle expressions of the wind, as well as symbolic animals, captivate the viewer's heart. On the left two canvases, amidst the scene of the spring light overflowing with gold leaf, the figures of a black cat and a fox are depicted as if suddenly looking up at the sky. In the two middle canvases, cats floating in midair connect the space, camellias bloom magnificently, and on the left canvas, against the pitch-black backdrop of the night, two deer are depicted calling out, and the mysterious fox, which has appeared in Kaga's recent works many times, once again emerges and disappears into the night. Beyond the gaze of the animals lies the endless expanse of the world, and in the almost center, "Usacchi," a "deadpan" rabbit character, sits low on the ground, quietly observing the changing world while immersed in the colors of nature. Amidst the expansive and rich painting world that stands with universality, several intimate and delicately woven stories containing intimacy and sadness are quietly told through various mystical symbols.
The exhibition title, "While I Am Touching the Sleeping Cat, I Feel as if I Know You Were There," sounds like a secretive riddle that suggests the warmth of the cat you are touching and the presence of "you" who cannot touch it now.
Schedule Now in session | Apr 18 (Thu) 2024-Jun 1 (Sat) 2024 27 days left Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | https://www.mahokubota.com/ja/exhibitions/4466/ | ||||
| Venue | Maho Kubota Gallery http://www.mahokubota.com/en/ | ||||
| Location | 1F, 2-4-7 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001 | ||||
| Access | 6 minute walk from exit 2 at Gaienmae Station on the Ginza line, 11 minute walk from exit A2 at Omotesando Station on the Ginza, Hanzomon and Chiyoda lines. | ||||
| Phone | 03-6434-7716 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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