Taro Shinoda
03 Oct - 02 Nov 2012
TARO SHINODA
Homo sapiens sapiens
3 October - 2 November 2012
Taka Ishii Gallery is pleased to present “Homo sapiens sapiens,” a solo exhibition by Taro Shinoda from October 3 to November 2. This exhibition marks Shinoda’s first solo presentation at Taka Ishii Gallery, and presents the film piece “LRTT (Lunar Reflection Transmission Technique),” a current and ongoing project which Shinoda began in 2007, alongside a series of approximately 21 new paintings.
As man is merely but able to grasp the flow of occurrences in the world through abstraction, I feel that only a higher existence which transcends us is capable of objectifying our civilization and our culture.
Just as we can for instance, objectively look upon a fight amongst stray cats in the neighbourhood...
Whilst looking upon the scene, I think to myself that if I were a cat I would be able to play my cards better.
How poor and inefficient our civilization must seem, when considered from a higher existence.
I somehow understand that myself, yet I am unable to find a means to escape from it.
I see and feel the world purely through subjective means, yet the astronomical body observes us with perfect objection.
Amidst the near infinite flow of time, how am I to apply myself as an existence that per chance has obtained that precise moment?
I simply wish to see, how and what, is going on.
Taro Shinoda, 8 August, 2012
“LRTT (Lunar Reflection Transmission Technique),” is comprised of film footage of the moon shot from respective locations in Istanbul, Boston and Tokyo. Shinoda appropriates the subject matter of the moon; the single observable satellite from various areas of the earth, in order to realize the sensation that mankind collectively shares this planet. He involves himself in the production of works with an inverted concept at their origin; that we do not look at the moon, but it is in fact the moon that looks upon us. The moon which we look at reveals itself in various forms depending on the location in which we gaze upon it – in order to raise this issue, Shinoda creates paintings through observing the moon in various locations through an astronomical telescope. Selecting a pure white aluminium plate as the base medium, the works are subject to multiple superscriptions and though portraying an abstract dimension, express the diversity of the appearances of the moon. In exhibiting the astronomical telescope used for the production of the works further to the presentation of the film and the paintings, the artist hopes to introduce the entirety of his project.
Shinoda was born in Tokyo in 1964 and has since continued to base his practice in Tokyo. In considering the theme of a “new relationship between human beings and nature,” Shinoda, until the present, has continued to create works with an interest in the bodies of human beings; further expanding to the earth and the universe which envelopes them. He has held solo exhibitions in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2009), REDCAT (Los Angeles, 2005), and the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art (2002). Shinoda has also participated in multiple international exhibitions including “SCULPTURE GARDEN (COLLABORATIVE PROJECT) / KAZ OSHIRO / TARO SHINODA”, Las Cienegas Projects (Los Angeles, 2011), “SENSING NATURE”, Mori Art Museum (2010), the Istanbul Biennial (2007), and the Busan Biennale.
Homo sapiens sapiens
3 October - 2 November 2012
Taka Ishii Gallery is pleased to present “Homo sapiens sapiens,” a solo exhibition by Taro Shinoda from October 3 to November 2. This exhibition marks Shinoda’s first solo presentation at Taka Ishii Gallery, and presents the film piece “LRTT (Lunar Reflection Transmission Technique),” a current and ongoing project which Shinoda began in 2007, alongside a series of approximately 21 new paintings.
As man is merely but able to grasp the flow of occurrences in the world through abstraction, I feel that only a higher existence which transcends us is capable of objectifying our civilization and our culture.
Just as we can for instance, objectively look upon a fight amongst stray cats in the neighbourhood...
Whilst looking upon the scene, I think to myself that if I were a cat I would be able to play my cards better.
How poor and inefficient our civilization must seem, when considered from a higher existence.
I somehow understand that myself, yet I am unable to find a means to escape from it.
I see and feel the world purely through subjective means, yet the astronomical body observes us with perfect objection.
Amidst the near infinite flow of time, how am I to apply myself as an existence that per chance has obtained that precise moment?
I simply wish to see, how and what, is going on.
Taro Shinoda, 8 August, 2012
“LRTT (Lunar Reflection Transmission Technique),” is comprised of film footage of the moon shot from respective locations in Istanbul, Boston and Tokyo. Shinoda appropriates the subject matter of the moon; the single observable satellite from various areas of the earth, in order to realize the sensation that mankind collectively shares this planet. He involves himself in the production of works with an inverted concept at their origin; that we do not look at the moon, but it is in fact the moon that looks upon us. The moon which we look at reveals itself in various forms depending on the location in which we gaze upon it – in order to raise this issue, Shinoda creates paintings through observing the moon in various locations through an astronomical telescope. Selecting a pure white aluminium plate as the base medium, the works are subject to multiple superscriptions and though portraying an abstract dimension, express the diversity of the appearances of the moon. In exhibiting the astronomical telescope used for the production of the works further to the presentation of the film and the paintings, the artist hopes to introduce the entirety of his project.
Shinoda was born in Tokyo in 1964 and has since continued to base his practice in Tokyo. In considering the theme of a “new relationship between human beings and nature,” Shinoda, until the present, has continued to create works with an interest in the bodies of human beings; further expanding to the earth and the universe which envelopes them. He has held solo exhibitions in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2009), REDCAT (Los Angeles, 2005), and the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art (2002). Shinoda has also participated in multiple international exhibitions including “SCULPTURE GARDEN (COLLABORATIVE PROJECT) / KAZ OSHIRO / TARO SHINODA”, Las Cienegas Projects (Los Angeles, 2011), “SENSING NATURE”, Mori Art Museum (2010), the Istanbul Biennial (2007), and the Busan Biennale.