Tonight: Jay Davis "Anagrams and Other Dimensions"

Motus Fort is mounting a new show by the New York-based artist Jay Davis. The reception for the artist will be held from 6pm onward. 

Tomorrow Night: Satomi Shirai Gallery Discussion at Motus Fort

Motus Fort gallery says:

Please join Satomi Shirai for a gallery discussion at Motus Fort on Thursday, February 24, starting at 6:00pm. Hope to see you all there.

２月２４日（木）、１８時よりMotus Fortにてギャラリー・ディスカッションを開きます。皆様のご参加を楽しみにしております。

Let's enjoy discussion and drink.

Kunst Oktoberfest'10

Akio Ohmori, Wolpertinger in the Full Moon, 2007, h 24 x w 24 x d 5 cm, Bronze and stainless steel. Lower Akihabara Gallery.

No in-depth analyses this time around, just a few pictures from the route: 

The weather was dramatically wet—Tokyo was hit by a typhoon on that day.

Dungeon space at Lower Akihabara gallery (East End Route).

Same location.

Cool crowd at the Motus Fort (East End Route).

Exhibition of young Asian artists at Keumsan Gallery Tokyo (East End Route).

Gallery Hashimoto (East End Route).

nca/nichido contemporary art (Nihombashi Route). 

The show there is "Pictures on Paper" by Vik Muniz.

GALERIE SHO Contemporary Art (Nihombashi Route)

ARATANIURANO (Ginza Route)

ARATANIURANO—installation view of Takahiro Iwasaki's "Phenotypic Remodeling" show.

 

 

 

Jim Lee "THE DEEP INSIDE"

Installation view with Untitled (Double Center Line Construction), 2010, acrylic on wood with wire and glue, 14. 75 x 11.75 in. (upper left) and Show Some Horns, 2010, oil enamel on linen with wood, 9 x 14.5 x 2 in. (lower right). Image courtesy of the gallery.

MOTUS FORT has moved to a new space, not too far from their old location in Higashi Kanda. Their inaugural show is Tokyo debut of a Brooklyn based artist Jim Lee whose work is described by Jeffrey Chiedo as "painting hybrids that reflect [Lee's] quirky brand of humor an present themselves as abstract solutions that slip in and out of recognition." Indeed, the works on view seem to function as hermetic objects as well as some sort of meta-commentary on objecthood. Lee's brand of punk Constructivism sits well in the new MOTUS FORT; his art does not look "displayed," instead, becoming a part of the gallery.

Installation view with A Space Between, 2010, acrylic on wood with graphite and oil enamel, 8 x 16 x 4.5 in. Image courtesy of the gallery.

The show will be on through October 16th.

Kadar Brock "Conjuring and Dispelling"

Arcane Gate, 2009

Marker, spray paint and house paint on paper

Image courtesy of Motus Fort gallery

Jeffrey Chiedo's Motus Fort gallery is now showing the works of Kadar Brock. The key word of the exhibition is "conjuring," in reference to the conflicting modes of painting and the obscured words and textures that come and go seemingly at the will of the artist-magitian. The two types of works on display are the monochrome mixed media paintings from 2009, like the one above, and the smaller figurative images in color. The monochromes picture the writing obscured by paint smears in what could be described as a gesture of materialization—the artist-magitian realizes the words as he crosses them out. The immateriality of the legible is made into a material sensibility using the physical solidity of paint. Several of the monochromes recall the later works of Anthony Tapies although Brock's pictorial concerns seem to be less expressive and more phenomenological.

The other portion of the exhibition are the color multi-media Wizards paintings on paper framed by the artist (all 2010). These already have their designated art history references (i.e. Holbein, Titian, Carravagio), and present, as the title suggests, a gallery of various wizards and conjurors. One name not mentioned in the dead artist roster was Mark Chagall's, but I certainly sensed his hovering hand all around the color wizards.

The show is on view through July 17th.

More New Year Exhibitions: Higashi Kanda

Jay Davis

False Woods, 2009,

8x10"

Acrylic on vinyl

Image courtesy of the Motus Fort gallery

Davis is one of over half a dozen artists in the group show "Drrreeeeaaaaammmmmsssssssszzzzz!!!!" at the Motus Fort gallery. His four paintings on view are done in multi-layered acrylic which plays up the translucent quality of the pigment, exposing plane upon plane of glaring lights. These appear to slide in and out of the foreground, emphasizing dreamscapes that are stabilized, at least in thee of the works, by a grid of tree trunks. Davis's pendant works Happy Boat (2009) and False Woods (2009) are separated by Dan Kopp's Tree Mover of the same year. Thematic and iconographic similarities among these (the artists, according to the dealer Jeffrey Chiedo, shared a studio) set the three works in a dialogue that continues to unfold in the space of the show. The other works in the exhibition range from photographs, to gouaches to 3D objects, are by Kenny Komer, David Kennedy Cutler, Joseph Ari Aloi, Annie Wharton, Mark Gibson, Alin Huma and Chris Jahncke.

View of "Metamorphsis-objects today: Vol.7 Kengo Kito" at αM gallery

Just around the corner, the αM gallery (a non-profit, managed by Musashino Art University) was showing a very peculiar installation by Kengo Kito. The whole space is upholstered in plaid fabrics of contrasting colors, and most of the walk about space held an assemblage of umbrellas and parasols of various elks. As I squeezed between one of the walls and an umbrella cluster I could not help but think of Anish Kapoor's current installation at the Guggenheim in New York. There, an imposing structure of Cor-Ten steel is placed so that in order to view (or experience) the piece one has to approach it from three separate vantage points accessible though three different galleries. The idea behind Kapoor's approach is making the viewer reconstruct the work in its entirety based on a sequence of views. Kito's piece, on the other hand, functions by way of simultaneous under and over stimulation as the tangibility of space is reduced by the same cloths that overwhelm the sense of vision. The exhibit, "Metamorphsis-objects today: Vol.7 Kengo Kito" is curated by Kazuo Amano of Toyota Municipal Museum of art.