Winnebago, Carpets, Onsen, Potter by Peter McDonald

Monday to Friday, 9:30am- 5:00pm

Daiwa Foundation Japan House, 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle, London, NW1 4PQ 

Peter McDonald depicts colourful scenes inhabited by people engaged in everyday activities. Images of teachers, artists, hairdressers or carpet sellers are constructed with an elementary graphic language. By making use of archetypes, symbolism and our incorrigible tendency to make the strange seem more familiar, McDonald’s alternative world reads like a parallel universe.

The artist describes the exhibition as a view of his painted universe, showcasing his paintings and works on paper, revealing the influence of everyday experiences upon his practice. For example the diptych, Looking for a Carpet(2009) was based on an experience during a trip to Morocco. Some of the works on paper reflect his stay in Japan during and after his year-long project Visitor, in Kanazawa, whilst the Noh drama series of works were based on his memories of traditional theatre performances and collaborations with the Kanazawa Noh Museum duringVisitor.

Peter McDonald was born in Tokyo in 1973, studying sculpture at Central St. Martins School of Art and painting at the Royal Academy Schools. He has had solo exhibitions at Kate MacGarry, Londonand also at Gallery Side 2, Tokyo, amongst others. He was awarded the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize (2008). Art on the Underground commissioned McDonald to produce Art for Everybody a large scale billboard installation at Southwark station (2009). As artist-in-residence at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2011–12), he worked on a year-long project called Visitor, which included workshops and work-in-progress shows.

Book Launch: Obtaining Images – Art, Production and Display in Edo Japan by Prof Timon Screech

 

24 April 2012 from 6.30pm

The Edo period (1603–1868) witnessed one of the great flowerings of Japanese art. Towards the mid-seventeenth century, the Japanese states were largely at peace, and rapid urbanization, a rise in literacy and an increase in international contact ensued. The number of those able to purchase luxury goods, or who felt their social position necessitated owning them, soared. Painters and artists flourished and the late seventeenth century also saw a rise in the importance of printmaking. Obtaining Images introduces the reader to important artists and their work, but also to the intellectual issues and concepts surrounding the production, consumption and display of art in Japan in the Edo period. Rather than looking at these through the lens of European art, the book contextualizes the making and use of paintings and prints, elucidating how and why works were commissioned, where they were displayed and what special properties were attributed to them.

Timon Screech is Professor in the History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and, concurrently, Permanent Visiting Professor at Tama Art University, Tokyo. He is the author of several books on Japanese history and culture, including Sex and the Floating World: Erotic Images in Japan, 1700–1820 (Reaktion, 1999) and The Shogun’s Painted Culture: Fear and Creativity in the Japanese States, 1760–1829(Reaktion, 2000). Tim Clark, Keeper of Japanese Art at the British Museum will act as discussant at this event.

This event is presented in partnership with Reaktion Books, with this book having been awarded a grant under the Japan Foundation Support Programme for Publication on Japan.

 This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please e-mailevent@jpf.org.uk with your name, details and those of any guests.

Over the Parched Field

Private view: Over the Parched Field by Akiko Takizawa

18 January 2012, 6:00 – 8:00pm

Daiwa Foundation Japan House

Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

Akiko Takizawa is a Japanese artist based in London. The exhibition, Over the Parched Field, showcases a selection of Takizawa’s photographs since 2006, including new works made especially for the exhibition. This is Takizawa’s first solo show in London.

Her latest series of photographs were taken in a volcanic mountain area, Osorezan in Aomori, where people go to talk to their deceased family members through a medium. Aomori is in the Tohoku area where local people live in a traditional close-knit society to survive in the severe natural environment. Takizawa grew up in a culture with a blurred border between life and death. Since she was young, she felt as if she was observing the world through the eyes of a third person. This sense of detachment to her surroundings adds an intriguing factor to the choice of the motifs in her works. Takizawa says “I feel that my camera acts as an aerial – to detect signals carrying urgent messages”. Some of her images capture the traditional and rapidly disappearing Japanese attitudes towards families and communities. One can see the distinctive switch to a more positive tone in the atmosphere she observes. Takizawa says that Osorezan (which means ‘Fear Mountain’) is one of the few places where her soul feels purely happy, even though the place sharpens her sense of isolation and solitude.

Takizawa’s exhibition at Daiwa Foundation Japan House is supported by the printing company Benrido. Based in Kyoto, Benrido has over a hundred years’ experience in the disappearing art of collotype, which requires skilful craftsmanship. The images in Takizawa’s latest series are printed using the technique of collotype, on specialWashi (traditional Japanese paper).

The artist will be introduced by Dr Simon Baker, Curator of Photography and International Art at the Tate Gallery.

Akiko Takizawa was born in Fukuoka in 1971 and completed her MA in Printmaking at the Royal College of Art in 2006. Her interdisciplinary practices involve not only photography but filming and performing art. Her work was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries in 2006 and the exhibition toured from Liverpool to London. Her work was shortlisted for the Hitotsubo Award, one of the most prestigious photographic competitions in Japan. She was also awarded the University of Abertay Visual Arts Prize (2002), the Dundee Contemporary Arts Print Studio Residency Prize (2002), the London Print Studio Award (2002) and the Printmaking Today Award (2000).

For more information click here.

Tadasu Takamine: Body, Mind and Expression

The Japan Foundation presents….

Japanese artist Tadasu Takamine, formerly a member of radical performance group Dumb Type, continues to take a similarly radical, and often confrontational, approach to his work. In installation and performance, as well as theatrical productions, Takamine uses a variety of approaches and range of media including images, sound, and 3D objects, placing him in a unique position as an artist who is impossible to classify or pigeonhole. One commonality which can often be seen in his work though is an awareness of the relation between the body and expression.

Takamine’s consciousness of social and political issues is also very much at the centre of his work and he is not one to shy away from challenging the viewer. This can be seen in his Venice Biennial exhibit God BlessAmerica (2002) and in Kimura-san (1998). Some of Takamine’s works have been the subject of criticism due to his bold and blunt expressions, as well as its often intimate and personal nature.

In this talk and following conversation with Prof. Fran Lloyd, Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture, Kingston University we have a chance to hear from Takamine about his unique artistic career and philosophy. This event also offers an opportunity to explore issues such as artistic expression and communication between the artist and society.

Date: 20 June 2011 from 6.30 pm

Venue: The Japanese Foundation,

Russell Square House,

10-12 Russell Square,

London,

WC1B 5EH

Booking

This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email your name and the title of the event you would like to attend to event@jpf.org.uk.