Filed under: ribbitz
Thank you to the Asian Arts Museum for hosting and participating in Ken Hamazaki’s “Red Tea Ceremony – YOU ARE GOD” last Saturday 9/11. There will be two more performances at SUPERFROG Gallery from 3-5pm on Sat. Sept. 18th & 2-4pm on Sun. Sept. 19th during his exhibition that opens during J-Pop Summit. Please RSVP for “GRATEFUL RED” opening Friday, Sept. 17th 6 – 9pm.
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Today, there was a man supposedly in his mid-20’s coming into the gallery, taking his time to observe and enjoy the exhibition. He was wearing an earring with a little feather; so, I had an impression from him that he could be an animal lover as he walked in. Although I would usually have some conversations with visitors who show their interests in the exhibition, I dared to give him a space so he could enjoy. I changed the music to something calmer and less distracting, and paid extra attention not to make noise. He seemed to be content with the experience, and left the room with a slightly embarrassed look. (He may have thought that he may have appeared odd to me for coming in by himself and contemplating on bunch of stuffed animal…)
He wasn’t the audience whom I had interactions with the most; nonetheless, he made my day.
Filed under: ribbitz
Superfrog Galleryの新しい展示、The Nonlife Zooが２８日から始まりました！
このショーは絶滅の危機に瀕する動物たちがモチーフとなり、人間による環境汚染の被害を受け苦しむ彼らの悲鳴を代弁しています。
動物たちのたたずまいは人間のそれを思わせ、彼らは私たちにとってかけがいのない存在なのだという事を思い出させます。
そしてそんな彼らの無機的な表情はどくろに重なり、住まいを奪われてゆく彼らの切実な訴えを見る者に感じさせます。
単に”かわいい”にとどまらない、胸にずしりと冷たい石を残すようなこの展示。
ぜひお立ちより下さい。
８月７日に幕を開けた西浦喜八郎氏の展示会 “Power of Prayer” も今日で１３日目を迎えました。今回展示されている作品は、日本古代からその神秘的な力で人々を導いてきた護符がモチーフで、西洋画の要素（左右比対称性、また色彩を加える、など）を併せ持つという点に特徴づけられます。作品に精神性を籠めるため、西浦氏はある決められた時間の中で制作され、また絵画も決められた方角に掛けられることによってその力をより発揮させることができるそうです。
先日、イタリアから旅行に来られているというご夫婦が絵を二枚引き取られて行かれました。２枚のタリスマンが日本からはるばる海を越えアメリカ西海岸という地に渡り、そこで見初められ、そしてミラノへ旅立って行く訳です。日本で古くから幸せをもたらすと信じられて来たものが、２１世紀になってもなお、国境を越えて人々に安らぎを与える力を秘めていて、またその力によって異なる文化を持つ人々を繋いでいるーーと括ってはいささか過言でしょうか。スピリットの宿るこの作品であるからこそより一層、そんな気持ちにさせられる光景でした。
西浦流については下記をご参照下さいませ。
http://www.nishiura-style.com/index.html
Filed under: ribbitz
It’s interesting to watch people who come to visit the SUPERFROG Gallery to experience Yu-Cheng Chou’s work. As they slowly make their way through the show, the sounds of shoes scraping the floor harmoniously mix with the ambient soundtrack that accompanies Chou’s video, Jamerendu. However, the sounds of shuffling always seem to come to stop at Paperwork I, as viewers stand before the piece, cross their arms and mumble questions like,
“Is it a painting?” or “How did he make this?”
I have noticed that the technique behind Yu-Cheng Chou’s artwork, especially in his digital pieces, is what grabs his viewer’s attention. Mounted against plexiglass, his digital photography transcends two-dimensionality and poses many questions to the viewer regarding consumerism, materialism, and the way in which the media influences our lives.
Yu-Cheng Chou’s approach to digital photography is unlike any other artist and is something I find very unique and inspiring. Often in digital photography, an artist is physically detached from his subject. However, I respect how Chou immerses himself completely into his subject and does not let his camera divide the connection between himself and his work. In Paperwork I, he appropriates an image from mass media and physically manipulates it, so as to retain his physical presence in the digital piece. He touches his subject — a Prada advertisement — with his own hands. With every twist and crumple, he creates a three-dimensional landscape within the photograph, showing the valleys and mountains that make up the consumerist landscape we are subjected to daily. The digital image and the meaning behind his artwork truly evolves through this technique and his choice of medium. Yu-Cheng Chou challenges the way we look at art, inspiring his viewer to ask questions and to connect with his artwork on a personal level.
Filed under: ribbitz
Today marks the end of the first week of our Yu-Cheng Chou exhibition.
Yu-Cheng Chou’s pieces have been resonating deeply with many of our attendees, myself included. There is a high degree of sentimentality to his work that I seldom present in art today. His works blend the digital techniques of today but also hark back to his youth. His works purity and sentimentality transport us back to our own childhoods and help us to remember what was dear to us in our early years. His larger works, which use many of the digital tools available today, are mounted underneath glass are images from our current time and shows us what we hold dear, not in the past but this present moment. Are these images invoking us in some way? Are they a biting reference our materialistic nature? Our consumerism? Life style and brand obsession? Regardless of the intent, Yu-Cheng Chou’s works are sure to hit a chord in us all.
