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PAST
EXHIBITIONS
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Light and
Shadow
Naoki Takenouchi
May 30 ~ June , 2006
Opening Reception June 2 (Fri.) 6 ~ 8 pm
Curated by Thalia Vrachopoulos, PhD.
Takenouchi’s
art transcends the boundaries of painting and sculpture to become installation
that because of its grandness results in the notion of aware or unexpected
delight. Aware is the equivalent of the English word sublime that describes
unusual beauty resulting in awe-inspiring sensation. Perhaps because of
his background in theater design, he often undertakes monumental installations
in unusual settings such as quarries, as a way of both altering reality
and as a challenge. Takenouchi’s work is unit based and modular
resulting in larger images able to enhance enormous spaces. His constructions
made of woodblock prints shaped by bamboo frames can range up to 150 feet
in length but usually they average about 35 feet each. These black and
white monochromes are composite modules that present us with an endless
repetition but in their theme also variety
Takenouchi’s Stone
Buddha comprised of a series of woodblocks shaped into rocklike
formations that incorporate the Tenri Gallery’s columns, results
in a site specific forest of trees and rocks. Separately each piece
can be read as a Buddha figure but also as garden of monoliths.
The formation’s unevenness repeats the shapes of the Japanese
mountain ranges but also to the North Korean range Kumgang-san with
whom Buddha images are associated. Takenouchi’s constructions
embody the intrinsic nature of Japanese esthetics “suggestion,
irregularity, simplicity, and perishability.” His forms are
suggestive of the Buddha figure rather than being descriptive on
the motif, his compositional designs are asymmetrically laid out,
his monochromatic tones simple yet sensuous, and his medium perishable
paper. His works are understated expressions of symbolic form characterized
by grand gesture.
His Fossilized Birds are encased in steel
cages enabling the viewer to come into contact with their own vulnerability
in that they produce an unnerving sensation maintaining their critical
edge as artworks. The birds have already fossilized to become part
of the rocks into which they’ve permutated. Upon closer examination,
the variegated shapes of his artistic vocabulary become apparent
as they are painted in white upon Japanese black paper. Birds sitting
on bamboo branches and foliage, natural rocks and valleys, heathered
hills and vales, appear and disappear into the cun folds of mountains,
to reappear on their crests. The rock formations into which Takenouchi
has shaped his bird fossils can be discussed in light of the recent
discoveries of Paleontologists in China that unearthed a 121-year
old fossil bird embryo that is possibly the world’s oldest.
Or, his Fossilized Birds can be seen in terms of reincarnation which
in Buddhism is the most important concept espousing endless rebirth
until one has learned enough to arrive at the state of nirvana.
In physical terms, when mammals die, their physical bodies return
to nature to become minerals that feed the plants that feed humanity
in a never-ending cycle of death and rebirth. In any case processes
are tantamount to Takenouchi’s oeuvre in the form of aging,
nature, transmutation, transcendence, or alteration. |
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Vanishing Point,
2006, 90 x 95 x 4", India ink on Japanese paper,
Acrylic, Bamboo |
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Stone Buddha, 2006,
10 x 9 x 24", India ink on Japanese paper, Wire |
Takenouchi engages his proclivity to use natural
processes for another of his series is entitled Corrosion. These works’
rectilinear frame on three sides is reminiscent of a man-made object while
the organic shapes within it are biomorphic combining to advance the notion
of a nature-culture juxtaposition. While it is true that Corrosion I and
II (Japanese paper, ink and color) are organized into black and white
box shapes from the bottom corner of each piece emerges another soft irregular
form in color. And it appears as if a fine velvety liquid is spilling
out of the corner of a box. Or, as if brilliantly colored tissues are
brimming the lid of a container, its overflowing contents tumbling out
into our space. Takenouchi is clearly a master in command both of his
media, and his artistic vocabulary who has created a body of work worthy
of a samurai practicing bushido.
Dr. Thalia Vrachopoulos,
Curator |
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