Ritsue Mishima
18 Oct - 15 Nov 2008
RITSUE MISHIMA
"100 Years After-Unrealised Archaeology"
Oct. 18, Sat.,– Nov. 15, Sat., 2008
Closed on Mon., Sun. and holidays
ShugoArts is pleased to present an exhibition of work by Ritsue Mishima made in collaboration with glass craftsmen on the Italian island of Murano.In spring 2007, Mishima's solo exhibition, "Particelle Silenziose" at the Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, was highly praised for its beautiful installation combining Mishima's transparent glass pieces with natural light. After that exhibition Mishima became interested in what her works would look like a hundred years from now. For this exhibition she has created a museum-like installation, with her works of glass playing the role of beautiful and timeless exhibits.
-What is the theme of this exhibition?
Mishima: I make my art works with professional glassmakers in Italy, and sometimes the sight of their working on the glass appears in my mind like a flashback in a movie. The process of their shaping the red-hot glass seems like a distant but very special memory of the past - of a precious time when man and nature were one.At the same time, the formation of the European Union and changes in government policy has meant that the glass studios on Murano Island are currently facing a crisis. The number of workshops has declined, and the working conditions of the remaining craftsmen are not good. The glass-making techniques that have been handed down from one generation to the next for a thousand years are in real danger of being lost forever. As I gaze at the backs of the glassmakers as they give the finishing polish to the pieces I am suddenly struck by the realization that there are no guarantees these techniques will be peserved for the future Still, I am certain that the glass pieces that we make together will survive. As we make the pieces we sometimes joke with each other: "This one's definitely headed for a museum!" Thinking of those conversations, I kept imaging what will have happened in one hundred years' time. By then all that will remain will be the works themselves. I wanted to see what that would be like.
-You used the word "archaeology" in the title.
Mishima: Most of my exhibitions to date have involved the glass pieces being made to meld into a spatial environment or installation. For this exhibition I wanted to create an environment where the viewer is made to confront the pieces as physical objects, like in a museum. I am very interested in how the works will look inside glass display cases. I did some research in the British Museum and it was of course the forms of the objects on display that were most impressive. There are things on display there from Mesopotamia that we don't even know who made. Yet they have survived through history and they are on display there in front of you. They have no doubt seen many wars, and yet they have just remained there, taking in everything that happens around them. It was wonderful to imagine that the flow of time, from the past to the present, stands still in them.
-Those discoveries have influenced the exhibition?
Mishima: I also want the viewer to actually feel that shiver of excitement when the works are created, and also to see evidence of the battle - like process by which they are made. This is something I always try to do - to use the forms and the effects of the light playing inside them to make the viewers aware of movement. I have in the back of my mind the image of something discovered at the bottom of the ocean. I want to capture the dramas occurring within a larger time frame - to create a sensation that such a large time frame has been absorbed into this still and quiet moment.
Ritsue Mishima was born in Tokyo in 1962. She began working with glass craftsmen on the island of Murano near Venice in 1996. While most Venetian glass is characterized by bright color, Mishima has focused on producing work that is colorless and transparent. In 2001 she received the Giorgio Armani prize for Best Artist at the Sotheby's Contemporary Decorative Arts Exhibition. She has held many solo exhibitions in Japan, and in 2007 a book of her work, "RITSUE MISHIMA GLASS WORKS VENICE - FRUITS OF FIRE" was published by Seigensha.
"100 Years After-Unrealised Archaeology"
Oct. 18, Sat.,– Nov. 15, Sat., 2008
Closed on Mon., Sun. and holidays
ShugoArts is pleased to present an exhibition of work by Ritsue Mishima made in collaboration with glass craftsmen on the Italian island of Murano.In spring 2007, Mishima's solo exhibition, "Particelle Silenziose" at the Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, was highly praised for its beautiful installation combining Mishima's transparent glass pieces with natural light. After that exhibition Mishima became interested in what her works would look like a hundred years from now. For this exhibition she has created a museum-like installation, with her works of glass playing the role of beautiful and timeless exhibits.
-What is the theme of this exhibition?
Mishima: I make my art works with professional glassmakers in Italy, and sometimes the sight of their working on the glass appears in my mind like a flashback in a movie. The process of their shaping the red-hot glass seems like a distant but very special memory of the past - of a precious time when man and nature were one.At the same time, the formation of the European Union and changes in government policy has meant that the glass studios on Murano Island are currently facing a crisis. The number of workshops has declined, and the working conditions of the remaining craftsmen are not good. The glass-making techniques that have been handed down from one generation to the next for a thousand years are in real danger of being lost forever. As I gaze at the backs of the glassmakers as they give the finishing polish to the pieces I am suddenly struck by the realization that there are no guarantees these techniques will be peserved for the future Still, I am certain that the glass pieces that we make together will survive. As we make the pieces we sometimes joke with each other: "This one's definitely headed for a museum!" Thinking of those conversations, I kept imaging what will have happened in one hundred years' time. By then all that will remain will be the works themselves. I wanted to see what that would be like.
-You used the word "archaeology" in the title.
Mishima: Most of my exhibitions to date have involved the glass pieces being made to meld into a spatial environment or installation. For this exhibition I wanted to create an environment where the viewer is made to confront the pieces as physical objects, like in a museum. I am very interested in how the works will look inside glass display cases. I did some research in the British Museum and it was of course the forms of the objects on display that were most impressive. There are things on display there from Mesopotamia that we don't even know who made. Yet they have survived through history and they are on display there in front of you. They have no doubt seen many wars, and yet they have just remained there, taking in everything that happens around them. It was wonderful to imagine that the flow of time, from the past to the present, stands still in them.
-Those discoveries have influenced the exhibition?
Mishima: I also want the viewer to actually feel that shiver of excitement when the works are created, and also to see evidence of the battle - like process by which they are made. This is something I always try to do - to use the forms and the effects of the light playing inside them to make the viewers aware of movement. I have in the back of my mind the image of something discovered at the bottom of the ocean. I want to capture the dramas occurring within a larger time frame - to create a sensation that such a large time frame has been absorbed into this still and quiet moment.
Ritsue Mishima was born in Tokyo in 1962. She began working with glass craftsmen on the island of Murano near Venice in 1996. While most Venetian glass is characterized by bright color, Mishima has focused on producing work that is colorless and transparent. In 2001 she received the Giorgio Armani prize for Best Artist at the Sotheby's Contemporary Decorative Arts Exhibition. She has held many solo exhibitions in Japan, and in 2007 a book of her work, "RITSUE MISHIMA GLASS WORKS VENICE - FRUITS OF FIRE" was published by Seigensha.