Masato Mizutani “12.3 Billion Souls”
We visited Masato Mizutani’s solo exhibition “12.3 Billion Souls.”
The venue was HARMAS GALLERY in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa.
The title of this solo exhibition, “12.3 Billion Souls,” comes from a work whose motif is the Basquiat painting that entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa purchased in 2017 for 12.3 billion yen (the work’s own title uses the price in US dollars).
Mizutani’s works begin with a ground built up from many layers of acrylic paint applied to a wooden panel.
This layered paint is carved out with a knife until the panel is exposed, and fine holes are drilled through the panel. Paint is then pushed through from the back of the panel; it emerges through the holes on the front and gradually accumulates on the surface.
The colors of the paint pushed through are determined by paintings from art history that are affixed to the back of the panel.
The accumulated layers act like time built up out of history, while the paint bleeding out reads as the energy the paintings emit.
Another series, ≪Rejoice≫, is made by slicing into a linen canvas mounted on a wooden panel, so that acrylic paint emerges from the back through to the front surface.
