Group Exhibition ‘The Past in Motion’

Jean-Eugéne Atget | Darren Almond | Gentaro Ishizuka | Hirofumi Isoya | Ritsue Mishima | Man Ray | Kyoji| Takubo | Kouichi Tabata | Tomoko Yoneda

August 7 – October 16, 2021 *Extended

KOTARO NUKAGA, Tennoz

KOTARO NUKAGA, Tennoz will be pleased to announce a group exhibition by nine artists, ‘The Past in Motion’ from August 7th (Sat) to October 16th (Sat), 2021.

KOTARO NUKAGA coordinated installation of artworks in guest rooms, restaurants, and lounges of the auberge “HIRAMATSU Karuizawa Miyota” at Miyota City, beside Karuizawa City, Nagano-prefecture. In the theme of “a stay encountering the memories”, we aimed to rediscover the history of Miyota City and memories of its land, and arranged variety of artworks from Jomon pottery found under the auberge to Contemporary artworks. Based on this theme at the auberge, the next exhibition will deepen our thoughts towards the relationship between memories of the past and now.

Where do we exist in this flowing time? If time is irreversible and is stretching one way like an arrow, we are facing a new future every moment in our consecutive events, moreover there are traces of the arrows, the past, behind us that keep the immense accumulation of events. The traces of villages and potteries by Jomon people tell us that their history truly existed at that place; therefore, we can say that all artworks regardless of their media or genre, is and will belong to the past. At the same time, if we do not have any memories, whether by a priori or one’s experience, we cannot find a way to percept the object in front of us. Even if we can see the object, the quality and value are decided subjectively based on one’s experiences. Therefore, to percept the present means referring to the past every time. If we state artworks as pins of the artist’s thoughts of that time, when we carefully reopen the memories inside the artwork, they will speak more than just an object. There will be diverse hooks that will interrogate viewers’ experiences and emotions. This rediscovery of the past through a new perspective will always be in motion.

Shadow Makes Light

Artists in this exhibition are very diverse. Jean-Eugène Atget, the pioneer of modern photography in France, took the changing landscape of “vieux Paris (old Paris)”, such as historical architecture, avenues, shops windows, gardens, and people living in Paris. Darren Almond, who took a series of photography using the light of full moon, captured by a long exposure, challenges the movement of time. Gentaro Ishizuka, who exhibited images of light captured in Saint Marie de La Tourette, the masterpiece by the father of modern architect, Le Corbusier, and his assistant who later became a contemporary musician, Iannis Xenakis, located near Lyon, France. Hirofumi Isoya, who rethink the aspect of cognition in a unique way in which he transforms color photograph to sepia color, then paints the frame with those colors that have been erased from the photograph. Since the 1970s, Kyoji Takubo, has been actively presenting his pieces as “Landscape Art”, a concept where a piece of art lively stays as a place of expression after the absence of the artist, as well as participating in various restoration projects. Through the split between media and within the medium, Koichi Tabata diversifies the subject in front from a different way, and delicately emerges the images that embody time and space that have passed by. Ritsue Mishima had great attention by its expression of the energy of a specific place by absorbing air and light in her works. She recently has been creating artworks related to multi-genres such as architect, fashion, and design. Tomoko Yoneda’s works have also been taking attention worldwide for her combination of journalistic perspectives and how imaginations and interpretations are open to the viewer. Man Ray, who joined the Surrealist movement became an iconic figure through his variety of methods, such as paintings, graphics, experimental films and especially photography.
All these artists have different methods and approaches, but we can say that they all re-interpret the past and leaves us spaces for new narratives.

In this exhibition ‘The Past in Motion’, we will also exhibit Jomon potteries and shards of them. To an extent, potteries and artworks are the same because both carry the memories of those who have been created. In a time where memories can be saved as immaterial data, the exhibition will refold the memories of these materialized works. We hope you would experience the in-betweenness of the past and present in our exhibition.

VR
OUTLINE
Group Exhibition ‘The Past in Motion’

ARTIST

Jean-Eugéne Atget

Darren Almond

Gentaro Ishizuka

Hirofumi Isoya

Ritsue Mishima

Man Ray

Kyoji Takubo

Kouichi Tabata

Tomoko Yoneda

DATE

August 7 – October 16, 2021 *Extended 11:00-18:00 (Tue- Sat) *Closed on Sun, Mon and Public Holidays *Gallery hours and other information are subject to change

VENUE

Guidelines for visitors

At KOTARO NUKAGA, we will be implementing the following measures to ensure the safety of visitors. Please review our guidelines before your visit. As a precautionary measure to help contain the further spread of COVID-19, we have set the following guidelines. Visitor Safety All visitors are required to wear a mask and sanitize your hands at the entrance. Please refrain from visiting the gallery if you are experiencing the following symptoms: – Cold/Flu-like symptoms – Fever (over 37.1 C/99.1 F) – Fatigue, shortness of breath, etc. Staff Safety At KOTARO NUKAGA we will take the following measures: – Install hand sanitizers in easily accessible locations – Increase the frequency of cleaning and disinfection of high touch points including doorknobs, elevator bottons, etc. – Limit the number of visitors – All the gallery members will wear a mask, regularly sanitize hands, measurement of body temperature Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

PRESS RELEASE