Masato Kobayashi
18 Sep - 23 Oct 2010
MASATO KOBAYASHI
LOVE more awful! and more beautiful because painting is all for love
Sep. 18, Sat., 2010– Oct. 23, Sat., 2010
Closed on Mon., Sun. and holidays
The existence of a pair transcends time and space - it is something akin to distance, or love.
Masato KOBAYASHI
ShugoArts is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Masato Kobayashi, “More awful! And more beautiful, because painting is all for love.” Kobayashi is a rare kind of artist who has sought to extend the possibilities of what painting can be. This exhibition includes works that were made as parts of what the artist calls “pairs” - two paintings as a set. One important aspect of Kobayashi's pairs is that the two works have no obviously apparent relationship in terms of their similarity or comparability. Likewise, they have no relationship in terms of meaning - nothing new is made apparent when they are viewed together. A woman's portrait with a lump of paint for the head paired with a reclining nude; a sparkling, crumpled canvas paired with a standing nude; and a person looking at the viewer with one red eye and one blue, for which a pair is yet to be made.
The fact that the paint is in thick splotches in parts, or appears to have been thrown at the canvas in other parts, in addition to the creases and folds resulting from the artist's tendency to attach and reattach his canvas to the frame as he progresses, reveal just how improvised the entire production process is - how very different it is to conventional painting. With such total improvisation, nothing like a pre-established harmony or even a hint of traditional painting practices can be detected. Yet the genuineness or the purity of the work has the strength to convince the viewer of Kobayashi’s will. That is why we can sense a connection between the pairs of paintings that cannot be explained verbally - a connection that Kobayashi calls love. If, in the present age, there is a way for us to believe that art is possible, then it might be "awful" paintings that hold the key.
Masato Kobayashi was born in Tokyo in 1957. In 1984, he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) from Tokyo University of the Arts. In 1997, he moved to Ghent, Belgium, where he lived and worked for ten years until relocating to Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture in 2007. He is currently engaged in a project where he exhibits "pairs" of artworks as a way to create connections that transcend distance. One of each work in the pairs are exhibited as part of the Mediations Biennale (September 10 - October 30, 2010, at the National Museum in Poznań) in Poznań, Poland and the other is shown at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (July 19 - November 7). The artist has held major solo exhibitions at The Miyagi Museum of Art (2000), the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art - Ghent (2001, Belgium), Tensta Konsthall (2004, Sweden), Nariwa Museum (2009, Okayama). This is his first solo show at ShugoArts in three years.
LOVE more awful! and more beautiful because painting is all for love
Sep. 18, Sat., 2010– Oct. 23, Sat., 2010
Closed on Mon., Sun. and holidays
The existence of a pair transcends time and space - it is something akin to distance, or love.
Masato KOBAYASHI
ShugoArts is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Masato Kobayashi, “More awful! And more beautiful, because painting is all for love.” Kobayashi is a rare kind of artist who has sought to extend the possibilities of what painting can be. This exhibition includes works that were made as parts of what the artist calls “pairs” - two paintings as a set. One important aspect of Kobayashi's pairs is that the two works have no obviously apparent relationship in terms of their similarity or comparability. Likewise, they have no relationship in terms of meaning - nothing new is made apparent when they are viewed together. A woman's portrait with a lump of paint for the head paired with a reclining nude; a sparkling, crumpled canvas paired with a standing nude; and a person looking at the viewer with one red eye and one blue, for which a pair is yet to be made.
The fact that the paint is in thick splotches in parts, or appears to have been thrown at the canvas in other parts, in addition to the creases and folds resulting from the artist's tendency to attach and reattach his canvas to the frame as he progresses, reveal just how improvised the entire production process is - how very different it is to conventional painting. With such total improvisation, nothing like a pre-established harmony or even a hint of traditional painting practices can be detected. Yet the genuineness or the purity of the work has the strength to convince the viewer of Kobayashi’s will. That is why we can sense a connection between the pairs of paintings that cannot be explained verbally - a connection that Kobayashi calls love. If, in the present age, there is a way for us to believe that art is possible, then it might be "awful" paintings that hold the key.
Masato Kobayashi was born in Tokyo in 1957. In 1984, he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) from Tokyo University of the Arts. In 1997, he moved to Ghent, Belgium, where he lived and worked for ten years until relocating to Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture in 2007. He is currently engaged in a project where he exhibits "pairs" of artworks as a way to create connections that transcend distance. One of each work in the pairs are exhibited as part of the Mediations Biennale (September 10 - October 30, 2010, at the National Museum in Poznań) in Poznań, Poland and the other is shown at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (July 19 - November 7). The artist has held major solo exhibitions at The Miyagi Museum of Art (2000), the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art - Ghent (2001, Belgium), Tensta Konsthall (2004, Sweden), Nariwa Museum (2009, Okayama). This is his first solo show at ShugoArts in three years.