January 15, 2008
1:56 AM
`2 x Three Beauties—The Charites`
The exhibition closed 13 Jan 2008.
There is a movie from the exhibition opening at YouTube :
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=XhZe5CK38_w
Artists: Megumi Fukuda, Taro Furukata, Takafumi Hara, Keiko Kimoto, Hirofumi Matsuzaki, Noriko Yamaguchi
Besides all the complex concepts of art and their exhibitions "2 x Three Beauties - The Charites" is based on a very down to earth and trivial concept: Beauty.
We generally know what beauty is. But already on the second thought the meaning of beauty gets porous. How different or similiar do japanese artists define beauty? The definition of beauty changes of course from time, nationality and gender. But it changes also from individual artist to artist. The curators of "2 x Three Beauties - The Charites" Eri Kawamura and Shintaro Miyazaki try to explore in their first show of the curatorial project "la-condition-japonaise" the possibilities of japanese beauty in context of berlin and raise awareness for the diversity of approaches by japanese artists.
In the famous paiting Primavera by Botticelli made around 530 Years ago the three charites or graces represented beauty. Almost all of the famous classic painters from Raphael, Botticelli, Rubens, Cezanne and others where inspired by the motiv of the three graces. Kawamura and Miyazaki selected both of them three of their own favorite artists from the growing field of berlin based japanese fine artists. Hence both of them have choosen their three graces, beauties or charites. Among them is Megumi Fukuda, who planted red tulips gardens in berlin and tried to explore with her latest public intervention artwork "Eternal Garden Berlin as a stranger" the boundaries between public and private, between her and the metropolis berlin, but also between real and fake, between art and nature, because the tulips were artificial: Made of plastic. Noriko Yamaguchi works with Washi (Japanese paper) and makes marvelous rhizomatic netlike installations which play with the space of the exhibitionsroom. Takafumi Hara known for his unique public art, which were shown in the exhibition ,,Das ABC der Bilder" (Berlin), at the Singapore Biennale 2006 or at the DNA Gallery in Berlin is also a part of the show in General Public. Hirofumi Matsuzaki will show his "SUPERDEEP" instead of superflat and colorful paintings. Taro Furukata will explore the possibilities of the "tannenbaum" (christmas tree) and Keiko Kimoto, who was rewarded by the "Meisterschülerpreis des Präsidenten und Walter Hellenthal Preis für Malerei" of the UdK Berlin will show some of her latest works. Additional informations about the artists and also the musicians will be available during the exhibition.
La-condition-japonaise is a curatorial project initiated by Shintaro Miyazaki (Media-/ Soundtheorist, Laptopmusician) and Eri Kawamura (Curator, Art-Writer, Art Historian) in April 2007 and tries to explore as well as re-map the diversity of japanese contemporary cultures and arts (fine art, experimental music, performance art, dance etc.). The center of their activity is Berlin.
