Tokyo

Toshi Ichiyanagi, Takahiro Kondo Erasure

2018/5/12–6/23

Opening Reception 

2018.5.12 (sat)16:00-18:00


Tokyo Gallery +BTAP is pleased to present Erasure, a two-person exhibition of works by composer Toshi Ichiyanagi and ceramic artist Takahiro Kondo.

In 1962, Tokyo Gallery organized a show called The Four Composers which included the works of Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), Toshiro Mayumizu (1929-1997), Toshi Ichiyanagi (1933-) and Yuji Takahashi (1938-).This show brought together the graphic music scores by these pioneers of post-war, avant-garde music. Back then there was a lot of experimentation going on throughout the arts in general. Furthermore, “avant-garde” was a common denominator between the arts, music, and theater, generating dynamic interaction among the various fields.

This experimental exhibition brings together music, the plastic arts, and performance. Kondo will create an impromptu clay work, while Ichiyanagi performs a piece composed for this show, with violist Mamiko Kobayakawa*. If sound demonstrates the return to silence, then the plastic arts exemplify, in this case, a finished vessel losing its form. The exhibition is the result of the dialogue between the two, a microcosmic representation of the repetition of the creation and destruction of the cosmos.

Toshi Ichiyanagi was born in 1933 in Kobe, Hyogo. In his teenage years, he won first prize in the composition category of the Mainichi Music Contest (currently The Music Competition of Japan) twice. At the age of 19, he went to New York and began creating experimental music pieces with artists such as John Cage. Since then, he has continued to influence not only music, but a variety of fields through his works which incorporate chance.He is a recipient of the Otaka Award, the L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France, The Mainichi Art Award, The Kyoto Music Award, The Suntory Music Award, The Shijuhō-shō (Purple Ribbon Award), and the Kyokujitsu-shō (Order of the Rising Sun).

Takahiro Kondo was born in 1958 in Kyoto. After graduating from the Kyoto Furitsu Tōkō Shokugō-kunrenkō (Kyoto Prefectural Vocational School for Ceramics) he received the 1994 Kyoto-shi Geijutsu Shinjin-shō (Kyoto City Art Rookie of the Year Award). In 2002, funded by the Agency of Cultural Affairs Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists, he completed a Master’s degree at the Edinburgh College of Art. Condo has exhibited work in exhibitions and art fairs throughout Japan and overseas, and his work is part of several collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Museum of Scotland. It will be the first time in 7 years since Kondo last exhibited with Tokyo Gallery in the group show MONOKEIROKEMONO in 2011.

WORKS

Title
LeaveⅠ
Year
2018
Size
10.5 x 41 x 41 cm
Material
Porcelain
Title
LeaveⅡ
Year
2018
Size
8.5 x 41 x 40 cm
Material
Porcelain
お問合わせ
Title
LeaveⅢ
Year
2018
Size
7 x 41 x 40 cm
Material
Porcelain
Title
LeaveⅥ
Year
2018
Size
8.5 x 41 x 40 cm
Material
Porcelain
お問合わせ
Title
LeaveⅣ
Year
2018
Size
41 x 40.5 x 3 cm
Material
Porcelain
Title
Untitled
Year
1962
Size
36.4 x 25.7 cm
Material
Musical score
お問合わせ
Title
Untitled
Year
1962
Size
36.4 x 25.7 cm
Material
Musical score
Title
Untitled
Year
1962
Size
36.4 x 25.7 cm
Material
Musical score
お問合わせ

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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