Takuro Someya Contemporary Art
I visited Kenjiro Okazaki’s new solo exhibition.
The venue is Takuro Someya Contemporary Art in Tennozu.
Takuro Someya Contemporary Art (TSCA) had been renovated for this exhibition. The interior was designed by Kenjiro Okazaki, the artist of this show.
Comparing it with photos from my previous visit, the space has changed drastically from the scene of Enrico Isamu Oyama’s solo exhibition. The gallery will continue to use this design after the current exhibition, and thanks to Okazaki’s meticulous planning, it now feels like an entirely reborn gallery.
The walls, which cannot quite be called a pure white cube, are painted in a subtly gray-tinged tone, and the layout apparently incorporates the golden ratio. The works exhibited in this show were also created specifically with this gallery space in mind.
Kenjiro Okazaki — Zero Thumbnail Series
Kenjiro Okazaki’s works are held in the collections of many museums, but the four “Zero Thumbnail Series” pieces exhibited at Benesse House Museum during the Setouchi Triennale left an especially strong impression on me, and became a major motivation for seeing this exhibition.
The Zero Thumbnail Series consists of small abstract paintings on 0-size or thumbhole-size canvases.
Painted in acrylic on canvas, each work is mounted on a handmade wooden stretcher assembled in a different way.
Sculpted Wooden Stretchers
The wooden stretchers differ in shape and position from work to work, and are fixed to the back of each canvas with wood screws.
The L-shaped stretchers are not glued together but carved out of a single piece of wood.
You could even call these works architectural in nature.
The way the works are displayed in the gallery is also determined with great precision. Looking carefully at the gallery walls, you can spot small guide marks. Okazaki is an artist deeply concerned with space.
Distinctive Work Titles
Kenjiro Okazaki’s works, across various series, are given distinctively poetic titles.
The larger the work, the longer the title tends to become. The title of the large-scale work exhibited at Benesse House Museum, mentioned earlier, was as follows:
Kenjiro Okazaki, work exhibited at Benesse House Museum
“Though the roar is heard, I have never heard him speak a word. Though his beard grows long, he cries like a baby. Bristling his mane, he rolls tumbling down to the earth — a fault born of ignorance. Ajisukita, who shot from afar and left the arrowhead behind, unknowing and without pity. The flame Kahikone, who has drunk up all the palm trees of the shore. A tail like smoke, a listless slack. A face covered in golden scales, godlike, dazzling to the eye. To leave this rustic land, to flee the beloved shore — yet the future, without being sought, aligns its fine cilia along the rows of the field. When the flowers bloom, the bees too must wish for the fine weather to continue. Who remains in the honey-sticky hive?”
“What is beheld and heard as a guest (even things dreadful) is all new to the eye and ear; knowing nothing, the traveler accepts everything. Look, Amenowakahiko dyeing the hillside in color. Blooming flowers in the past, sleeping with a stone for a pillow. Who are you? Suddenly Waki, the red thrush, losing the strength of its wings, fell like a stone toward the grassy shore.”Size: (H)210cm x (W)460cm x (D)7cm
Material: acrylic on canvas
Year: 2017
* Two-part work, left and right
Kenjiro Okazaki’s wife is the poet Kyongmi Park. It seems the poetic nature of his titles is partly nurtured by that environment.
He is also very particular about English translations, and reportedly commissions professional translators to give his works their English titles.
Looking at the list of works, some pieces remain untitled — Okazaki has said that naming a work can sometimes take a very long time.
Special Presentation
The works installed in the gallery were all made specifically for this exhibition, with their positions determined in advance to fit precise, predetermined spots.
Given his popularity, nearly all the exhibited works were sold out, but I was fortunate enough to see recently completed works in a separate room.
Though small in size, the works overflowed with power and could hold your gaze for a long time.
Since taking part in Art Basel Miami 2017, Okazaki has drawn considerable attention from overseas collectors as well, and his prices have reportedly risen significantly.
