People had fun wandering around this exhibition and talking about the works of art it features, posing in groups beside one or another of the pieces, and spending time outdoors. It’s a short trip from Central on the new light rail – a very Japanese way for me to start the day – just around the corner from the Museum of Contemporary Art (where I popped in to take a peek – see tomorrow’s blogpost).
Keizo Ushio’s ‘Oushi Zokai’ series were popular (see photo below), with one exemplar positioned outside on the deck hanging over the harbour.
He had smaller exemplars inside the gallery nearby (see following two photos).
Above: Oushi Zokai # 19 (2013)
Above: Oushi Zokai Moebius in Space (2011)
There was also inside a small sculpture by the same artist which has a different form (see below).
Above: Oushi Zokai 3 Twists (2015/16)
I thought that the work shown below by the same artist was less successful because of the way the cutting of the parallel lines in the strip was not faithful to the inherent geometry of the thing.
Above: Oushi Zokai Hexagonal
Cleaner lines were available with the work of an artist named Toshio Iezumi (see below).
Above: F.200201 (2020)
Above: M.100901 (2010)
Between 2010 (when the second work was made) and 2020 (when the first work was made) there was evidently a change in the artist’s vision of the world. The sinuous and protoplasmic form of the later work suggest that a degree of uncertainty has entered into his mind or into his imagination. The horizontal plan of the second sculpture also has implications for the viewer’s understanding of his state of mind.
Hiroaki Nakayama also works in granite (see below).
Above: Blowing in the Wind 3 (1997)
The effect of his work is different when you add the Opera House and some passersby …
Above: Blowing in the Wind
Koichi Ogino had a series of sculptures all sharing a single theme, indicating that he’d spent a good deal of time thinking about one thing.
Above: Camel Country (2014)
Above: Camel Country III (2018)
Above: Camel Country 14
Akiho Tata’s small interior sculpture combined a number of different elements, and in this way differed from the majority of the pieces on display. Nevertheless, her work presents a singular idea.
Above: Love Aus (2020)
Another by the same artist is this humorous piece that's been strategically placed near two utilitarian bollards – the iron pieces embedded in the wharf that were in the past used to tie up ships and stop them floating away. Perhaps Tata’s aubergine can serve to keep friends and family at the dinner table!
Above: Pink Eggplant Share
A simpler form was found in Wataru Hamasaka’s work (see below). His elaborately simple piece has a low specific gravity.
Above: The Sound of Sky – The Physical Ring VI
A completely different medium (steel instead of stone) and a different artistic conception of what is not only beautiful but of what is possible in sculpture was visible in the work of Ayako Saito (see below).
Above: Heart Beat (2019)
Above: Lunar Shadow
Above: Step x Step II
The kinetic properties of Saito’s work are interesting because, as a woman, she’s chosen to add drama in a different way from most of her (mostly male) peers. I see echoes in her work of Duchamp and early 20th Century Modernism, and I like the way she completes each complex piece with elan yet manages to force order on the composition of elements fused together with flux.
Takeshi Tanabe also uses steel (see below).
Above: Locus of Time 18-1
Another sculpture by the same artist uses different materials. With stone he manages to pull off something decisive and intricate but still massive and unique.
Above: A Scene: Dedicated to Handel’s ‘The Water Music’ 17-1
Koichi Ishino's monumental sculpture allowed people to take photos of themselves in the reflecting surfaces of the base (see below). Here's the writer wearing his old blue jacket – at least two sizes too big – and ten-year-old pants!
Above: Form of Scenery - lat. 35deg06min23sec N, long. 135deg55min30sec E
This artist's work is interesting because he's taken the circle that'll feature later on in my survey and deployed it in an intriguing fashion above a complex set of forms.
Another figurative work is Takahiro Hirata’s lovely marble piece which was placed inside on a plinth. You can buy one of his works.
Above: Arrowhead 2015 Dark Night Shine (w) (2015)
I’ll close out the show with a symbolically important work by Tetsuro Yamasaki that embodies part of the Japanese spirit: the circle. The shape he has chosen for his work is located on the national flag and it is in the Japanese love of uniformity and harmony. The artist's chosen shape is echoed by nearby objects, wow!
Above: Circle – ‘Harmony’
Spend time seeing the show if you’re in Sydney until 3 June. The web page says there’re 17 works but it’s much more than that. I’ve shown 22 in this post and I left some out of my survey. Partly I did so because I sometimes, in my rush to complete a viewing of the exhibition, missed capturing explanatory details, but I also edited my selection based on quality. One or two things that I saw were not, in my mind, up to standard.
Overall a very fine show and it has the added appeal that it’s free. You can buy the smaller works if you feel inclined but they’ll set you back thousands of dollars – the Hirata arrowhead is relatively cheap at $6500 – so serious collectors only will be influenced by the acquisitive instinct that animates us all.
For my part, I’ve been more than happy to collect images and mental impressions. Sculpture is always exciting, and large works like some of the things shown above are doubly so because you can actually walk around them. Being able to take your friends’ photos – or else take selfies – next to a monumental work like Yamasaki’s makes the promise of a meaningful day more real.
No comments:
Post a Comment