Tokyo

MONOKEIROKEMONO

2011/1/15–2/12

MONOKEIROKEMONO exhibition
2011.1.15 sat - 2.12 sat

Artist Talk 2011.1.15 sat | 15:00-
Opening Reception 2011.1.15 sat | 17:00-19:00

Tokyo Gallery+BTAP is pleased to present Onishi Hiroshi, Kondo Takahiro and Stephen Gill Group Exhibition “Monokeirokemono.” This exhibition follows the lead of 2006’s “Mono-logy (monogaku, study of material things) / Sense-Value Study Group.”

The Mono-logy group, lead by Professor Kamata Toji, the representative of Kyoto University’s Heart of Future Research Center, aims to further explore the meaning of “mono.” Onishi and Kondo have been participating in this study group from the viewpoints of artists, and they started up an art section meeting for the intervention area of Mono-logy study and expression practices.

In February 2009 in Kyoto, Yamamoto Hozu, Director of Tokyo Gallery + BTAP, conducted a lecture entitled “Mono-ha in 1960-70s’ Japanese Modern Art and Mono-logy” at the first art section meeting. The art section meeting then continues on. In January 2010, the first experimental exhibition “From mono (Materials) to mono (Numina)” was held in Kyoto University Museum. It was the event that Stephen Gill first joined in as an invited artist. Continuing into November, “MONOKEIRO — From Things to Numina” exhibition was held in Kyoto Katei Jogakuin College - Kyohakuin.

The concept of “Monokeirokemono” arose from the art section meeting has been a center of an axle in those two exhibitions. Under the influence of Postmodernism, the artists are able to bravely explore the new expression through this concept. In the age of the present, the Premodern, the Modern and the Postmodern, where information is overflowed and the contour of countries, societies and individuals became hard to define, the three artists aim to show these aspects and thus conduct this Third “Monokeirokemono” exhibition.

Onishi Hiroshi Born in 1965. Currently an associate professor at Department of Design, Kyoto University of Art and Design. Took the position of image production and CG production director since 2002. A member of ASIFA-JAPAN (Association Internationale du Film d’Animation - Japanese branch) and Mono-logy (monogaku) /Sense-Value Study Group. Inaugurated the Mono-logy/Sense-Value Study Group art section meeting in 2008 with Kondo Takahiro.

Takahiro Kondo was born in Kyoto in 1958. Master degree of Design and Applied Course Edinburgh College of Art. Participated in a Japanese Government Sponsored Overseas Study Program for Artist. Received Kyoto City Emerging Artist Award. Inglis Allen Masters of Desigh Award.

Stephen Gill Graduated from London University with a degree in Japanese Language & Literature, and from the Sir John Cass School of Art, London with a diploma in Gemmology. While working as part-time lecturer first at Ritsumeikan and later at Kyoto University, Gill has held many ikeishi (“Live Stone”) exhibitions and continues to be active both as an artist and a poet. He is the originator of Art Form ikeishi and leads the haiku circle Hailstone. He has won several awards for his haiku, and the SONY Prize for his B.B.C. Radio programme, “Insect Musicians”.

Takahiro Kondo

Takahiro Kondo was born in 1958 in Kyoto. He has a unique background being raised by his grandfather, Yuzo Kondo, recognized as a Living National Treasure in the craft of sometsuke ceramic decoration, and his father and ceramic artist, Hiroshi Kondo, and becoming part of the Japanese national team as a table tennis player. He began pursuing ceramics at the age of 25, received the Kyoto City Art Newcomer Award in 1994, and completed a master’s course at Edindburgh College of Art, Scotland.
Kondo began his career creating traditional sometsuke works, but later introduced new media such as metal and cast glass, establishing a unique form of artistic expression. In 1993, he created his original and patended technique Silver Mist (gintekisai), in which a mixture of platinum, gold, silver, and glass is crystallized in granular form on ceramic. This technique, which gives porcelain a delicate shimmer and varied appearances due to the drops on the surfaces, is based on the concept of creating water from fire, using clay as its medium.
Major solo exhibitions include Thoughts on Hands (2017, Kahitsukan, Kyoto Museum of Contemporary Art), Seisui: Vessel Shifting (2016, Setouchi City Museum of Art), Self Portrait (2010, The Museum of Arts and Crafts, Itami), Metamorphose (2007, Kyoto Art Center / Nariwa-cho Museum / Paramita Museum), Takahiro Kondo: New Blue & White (1995, National Museum of Scotland). His work is represented in numerous institutional collections, including Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA; Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA; São Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil; Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; Guimet Museum, Paris, France, among others.

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