Casa BRUTUS “A Roundup of Japanese Contemporary Art,” June 2020 Issue
I picked up the June 2020 issue of Casa BRUTUS with its feature “A Roundup of Japanese Contemporary Art.”
Among the art collectors profiled in the issue, I want to focus on Kashiyuka (Yuka Kashino), a member of the technopop unit Perfume.
Kashiyuka is a well-known celebrity who is also recognized as an art collector — she’s been spotted at galleries, and her name has come up more than once among the collectors around me.
Her appearance in Casa BRUTUS’s “A Roundup of Japanese Contemporary Art” feature seems to tie in with her ongoing serial in the same magazine, “Kashiyuka’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts.”
In that serial, Kashiyuka herself takes on the role of shop owner and buyer, sourcing works she likes each issue — a virtual shop that brings together the “essence” of traditional crafts from across Japan.
Kashiyuka the Art Collector
Kashiyuka’s collection is introduced across four full pages of Casa BRUTUS, with photographs of seven works by three artists. Here’s a look at each.
Taiji Matsue
Photographer Taiji Matsue (TARO NASU) is known for winning the Ihei Kimura Photography Award.
Four works by Taiji Matsue in Kashiyuka’s collection are featured. The first two are from the ≪LIM≫ series, shot in cities around the world — a head-on view of a vivid cemetery in Lima, Peru, and a cemetery in St Andrews, Scotland.
The two works on the left-hand page are from the ≪JP≫ series, aerial images that carve out Japan’s terrain, and ≪gazetteer≫, which takes place names around the world as its titles. One hallmark of Matsue’s work is that every element in the frame is in focus.
By coincidence, one of the works featured here is exactly the same as a piece in the collection of artist Kohei Yamada, whom I profiled earlier in the “Collector Visit” series — a surprise for me.
Maiko Haruki
The two works by photographer Maiko Haruki are large-format pieces (56.5×108cm) shown at her 2017 solo exhibition at the Roppongi gallery TARO NASU.
Yusuke Komuta
Yusuke Komuta (SCAI THE BATHHOUSE) is known for his painting series based on unfolded development diagrams of origami planes and cranes, but the piece Kashiyuka collected, ≪Plane_Soleil≫, is a commissioned work on mirror-finish stainless steel.
Its motif is an origami plane, built in three dimensions, then unfolded flat as a development diagram. The piece feels connected to the worldview Perfume creates — a striking match.
Wrap-up
“I like art that blends into everyday scenery,” Kashiyuka says.
Every piece is chosen with her own clear eye — impressive. What’s more, the works featured here share something in common: all are by accomplished Japanese artists, all purchased through primary galleries.
There might well be a moment where you cross paths with her at some gallery.
