2018-11-21

KAORU ARIMA – To See / Queer Thoughts(NY)



KAORU ARIMA – To See
November 15 – December 16, 2018

http://queerthoughts.com/pages/Exhibitions/Kaoru_Arima_2018.html



Kaoru Arima at Queer Thoughts / NY<Contemporary Art Daily December 10th, 2018





KAORU ARIMA – To See
November 15 – December 16, 2018

We are quite familiar with drawing and painting while looking at an object or landscape, or drawing and painting while looking at things in a dream (fantasy), and so on. But maybe we can also draw or paint by detecting visual forms through other senses, especially the haptic one, such as looking at bones by touching one’s own body, or looking at the space inside one’s mouth using one’s own tongue, or looking at the texture of one’s respiratory organs through breathing.

 Why now?
Now is the time when artists are often demanded to construct works through both visuality and thought that is linked to internet searching and curation, or to critically respond to current events. But a human being is an interface where five senses can be mutually converted (shared); making art through five sharpened senses is an important pursuit as well.

About Skeleton:
Skeleton is a symbol of death. Life and death always coexist. Partly influenced by taijitu (yinyang symbol), where even in the yang area there is a dot of yin, I had a desire to get close to and touch death inside me, to understand it, which made me start to touch my bones.

As for the exhibition:
I hope the audience could see each element of the exhibition as-is. So, while being cautious about how to stop working right before it becomes a “painting/drawing” or an “exhibition,” I will try to make something that is barely an exhibition, an attempt on a tightrope. Every time I have an exhibition, I plan it based on the idea that this would be the last show in my life. And also, I always wish that my exhibition could mark a step further, or beginning of a ripple, no matter how small it is, for human kind.

 Kaoru Arima (b. 1969, Aichi, Japan) lives and works in Ishinomaki, Japan. Arima has exhibited extensively throughout Japan, and has had solo exhibitions with Misako & Rosen, Tokyo; and the Watari Art Museum, Tokyo, among others. His work was included in surveys such as “The Age of Micropop: The Next Generation of Japanese Artists” at the Art Tower, Mito; The 54th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh; and “How Latitudes Become Forms” at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, where his work is also represented within the permanent collection. Select solo and group exhibitions include Kimmerich, Düsseldorf (solo); Catherine Bastide, Brussels; Bortolami, New York; and Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago. This is Arima’s second exhibition with Queer Thoughts (2013, Chicago), and his first solo exhibition in New York City.

A performance by the artist will take place on November 15 from 6-9 PM.



タイトル:みること 

「モノや風景を見て描く」、「夢(空想)を見て描く」などは当たり前に行っているが、ここに「手で体を触り、骨をみる」、「舌を使い口の中をみる」、「呼吸をした時の器官のはだざわりをみる」などの別の感覚(触覚)で、視覚的な輪郭を与え描いてみる。このシリーズ発表のタイミングを探していたら10年以上経ってしまった。とはいえ、ずっとドローイングや、ペインティングを描く時、モノを捉えキャンバス(紙)に定着させる時、確実に触感をイメージして描いていた。

なぜ、今なのか:
検索とキュレーションによる、視覚と思考で構築したり、時事ネタにクリティカルに反応することが求めらる場合が多いが、人間は五感を相互に変換(共有)できるインターフェイスである。五感を研ぎ澄ます表現も大切な試みである。

骸骨について:
骸骨は死の象徴で、人の生と死は常に共存している。道教の太極図(陽中の陰)の影響もあり、自分の中にある「死」に近づいて触れたい、理解したいと思うようになったのが骨を触りだした始まり。

展示に関して:
展示に関しては、要素をそのままを見て欲しいので、「絵」や「展示」になるギリギリ手前でいかに止めるかに注意を払いながら、ギリギリ成り立つような展示を目指す。
NY初個展について思うこと:
展覧会はいつも、「これが」人生最後の展覧会である。と思ってプランを考える。
そしてそれが、人類にとって、小さくても、波紋を広げたり、一歩だったりすればいいなと思っている。