-Rin- Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Art Market 2018
“Rin,” the annual art market held at Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, is a project in which eleven domestic galleries and seven projects by Mitsukoshi present and sell their works.
It is a delightful occasion, gathering a wide range of genres and a great many works all in one place.
The reason I visited this time was that two of my favorite artists — both surnamed “Tanaka” — were showing works there.
The two are Chisato Tanaka and Takeshi Tanaka.
Chisato Tanaka
https://art-on.jp/chisato-tanaka-kobayashi-gallery/
https://art-on.jp/chisato-tanaka-artfairtokyo2018/
Chisato Tanaka is an artist who depicts a distinctive world of her own.
The black paint she uses for her backgrounds — she is an artist who renders a depth of black that rivals any other.
Takeshi Tanaka
The exhibition I was looking forward to most was that of Takeshi Tanaka, one of the artists I am currently paying the closest attention to.
https://art-on.jp/seven-fresh-green2018/
https://art-on.jp/nikkei-nihonga-7/
Three new works were on view — a cat and two horses. The horse works still yield to the dynamism of “Leap,” which I had seen before, but every time I encounter his horses I am impressed by his descriptive powers.
Somewhat older, but one work uses a skull as its motif. It was exhibited in the 2015 solo show “Signs of Winter” at Kobayashi Gallery.
I always pay close attention to the messages Takeshi Tanaka embeds in his works.
“endless cycle of rebirh” —
This work is composed around the theme of reincarnation. The skull symbolizes “the human,” the pine extending from it “the burning life,” and the sparrow “nature.” The pine is meant to evoke the burning quality of human life; the very word “matsu” (pine) is said to derive from “fire,” and because pines are rich in oil and have long been used as fuel, they were also called “trees of fire.” That is why I chose this motif. The winding, twisting form of the pine branches evokes the cursive form of the character “廻” (rebirth/circulation), and the character in the painting is likewise “廻.”
Japan receives many blessings from nature, but at times nature also takes lives. Whenever I witness this, I am reminded that we are always kept alive within nature, and at the same time I am led to reflect on how we ought to face and coexist with it. This is the same theme as the skull series I presented at my Takashimaya solo show.
Toward the next solo exhibition, this sense of life and death is a theme I want to strengthen in my expression, and this is one of the works that mark its starting point.
