MANAMI OKAZAKI TAKES A JOURNEY THROUGH THE MIND AND CREATIONS OF PROLIFIC JAPANESE ARTIST SHINRO OHTAKE

A handful of Ohtake’s artworks

LOVERS OF MODERN ART are in for a real treat this July and August, as the Fukuoka Art Museum unfurls a major retrospective of Japan’s master contemporary artist Shinro Ohtake. Entitled New Universe on the Road, the exhibition represents Ohtake’s first one-man show in Fukuoka and will feature a broad spectrum of his works from over the years.

Working in a variety of disciplines from dense collages (for which he is most famous) to sculptures, sketches, water colours, oil paintings and etchings, Shinro encapsulates a passionate spirit for creation that makes him one the country’s most well-respected visionaries. His seemingly endless energy and ability to constantly produce boundary-pushing works has earned him a reputation as an innovator of Japanese contemporary art.

Ohtake’s motivation seems fairly simple: “The thing that has continued for me is the notion of creating something today that didn’t exist yesterday,” he says. This ongoing desire to generate new and unique concepts has encouraged him to produce a colossal body of work, with 300 of the best on public display in Fukuoka.

BREAKING OUT

The famous collage work Black Shidenkai

Ohtake ShinroShinro Ohtake was born in Tokyo on 8 October 1955. Deciding that he wanted to be an artist at 18 years old, he went on to graduate from Musahino Art University in his home city before heading west to live in London and USA. It was here that he was exposed to a world of new influences that helped to define his work.

Ohtake’s now-famous, chaotic collage work started with Black Shidenkai(1964) where he employed the use of layering at the tender age of nine years old. In this collage, which features characters from Japanese animation, the child artist honed his natural instinct for cutting and pasting, defying the conventional rules of colour and composition with a post-modern aesthetic.

Japonorama-Tokyo II
(1997) It was clear from those early days that he was all set to break new ground and did just that in 1982, when his first solo exhibition in Tokyo sent shockwaves through the Japanese art scene.

No one had seen anything like his work before – art at this time was very minimalist and subdued. Ohtake’s bold, energetic works were something totally new, following no defined formulas.

Five years later, a showcase of his creations at Tokyo’s Sagacho Exhibit Space turned him into a legend. Guests included the intelligentsia of Japanese art such as fashion designer Issey Miyake, and photographer Kazumi Kurigami. The audience were once again stunned by Ohtake’s originality and passion. The creative world lapped it up, and he soon became a flag-bearing representative of contemporary Japanese art, exhibiting both locally and overseas.

Scrapbook No. 63 (2003) Since then, Ohtake has set trends and influenced an entire generation of new artisans. His works have won the admiration of high-profile fans, including beatnik writer William Burroughs, pianist and composer Ryuchi Sakamoto, and artist Takashi Murakami of colourful Louis Vuitton handbag fame.

Perhaps in his search for new inspiration and an escape from metropolitan life, Ohtake moved away from Tokyo to Uwajima in Ehime prefecture in 1988. From there, he has continued to create magnificent art, as seen at the highly-acclaimed, three-month retrospective of his work held at Tokyo’s Museum of Contemporary Art at the end of last year.

STARS OF THE SHOW

Curator of New Universe on the Road, Yozo Yamaguchi reveals eight of his highlights from the exhibition:

Scrapbook No. 1-64 (1977 to present): Don’t miss what is considered the artist’s life work and perfectly represents Ohtake’s energy.

Retina (Night Fever 4) (1990): The way that Ohtake treated these disregarded Polaroids ensured it was considered a pioneering work or art at the time.

W E B (1990-91): This is from the Fukuoka Museum’s permanent collection and a piece that possesses a strange, energetic presence.

From Algeciras to Tangier (1993): What may seem commonplace to the locals of where he travels, becomes extraordinary when placed in Ohtake’s hands.

Japanorama/Tokyo II (1997): Travelling into rural Japan, rather than beautiful natural landscapes or village backdrops, Ohtake saw cruel scenery devoted to destruction by careless development.

Painted Matter I (Atlanta) (1997): Over seven metres wide and featuring countless overlapping images of various sizes, this is a truly intricate work.

Dub-hei & New Chanel (1999): An excellent example of Ohtake’s 3-D collage work, that is described by the artist as a self-portrait of a lover of sound, garbage and printed matter.

Electrocity III (2003): While Ohtake’s huge oil paintings and scrap works gain the most attention, his illustrative work on paper should not be overlooked.

THIS AND THAT

From Algeciras to
Tangiers (1993) So what it is that makes Ohtake’s work so unique? One important factor is that his creations refuse to be restricted to one medium or discipline. The artist has and will try all media – from mammoth sculptures to paintings, neon lights and even sound installations – and he uses them to magnificent eff ect.

Ohtake’s choice of materials is just as eclectic, ranging from photographs and printed matter to used timber and even scrap material. The results are both two- and three-dimensional, yet apparently unintentionally diverse.

“I’m just not that conscious about my style,” Ohtake admits, emphasising the haphazard attitude to creativity that makes his work so appealing. The result is that, without even trying, his art resists pigeon-holing all the way to the end.

The artist does have one constant – that of collage – which continues to appear in various incarnations and forms the basis of some of his most celebrated pieces. His obsession with cutting and pasting has become one of his fortes, as evident in beautiful works such as From Algeciras to Tangiers (1993), in which a dense patchwork of images from the Arab world are cleverly layered with smatterings of Japanese characters.

Yozo Yamaguchi, curator of New Universe on the Road, describes Ohtake as “an ardent collector of printed matter”, which he finds on his travels and works into his creations. Further examples of this habit include W E B (1990-1991) in which Ohtake brings together various-sized boxes, forming them into a frame. In the centre is another example of layering.

Both this centrepiece for W E B and that of a later work, Retina Night Fever 4 (1990) are made of photographic films which were inspired by some failed Polaroids that the artist found in the trash. They are exposed and enlarged pieces of film that are covered with resin and then topped with a hardening agent, allowing a pattern of wrinkles to be formed on the surface.

Yamaguchi explains the significance of this element – while the notion of using photos and layers may not be new for today’s young artist, Ohtake pioneered the method 17 years ago.

W E B (1990-1991), Retina (Night Fever 4) (1990) and Electrocity III (2003)

WHAT’S ON SHOW

Painted Matter I (Atlanta) (1997)

New Universe on the Road includes a wide range of Ohtake’s work – everything from famous to never-seen-before material. Rather than following a chronological timeline, the show is divided according to theme and philosophy, enabling the viewer to traverse on a journey through the artist’s creative world.

As the title suggests, this exhibition asks: “Can you see the new universe in trash lying on the road?”

This question encapsulates Ohtake’s spirit. His impetus to produce work is not bound by regular art or beautiful concepts. In fact, it is far from it. Ohtake sees beauty and draws inspiration from everyday rubbish, misprinted matters and kitsch items that he comes across on his way.

This attitude was highlighted in the 1980s when his “garbage art” assemblages won him a loyal fan base, where diverse fragments of print and trash can fodder are layered in dense juxtaposition.

Scrapbook No. 1-64 (1977 to
present) When asked about the appeal of using such items, Ohtake replies: “I don’t come up with a concept to use something like that. It’s just that the moment I see it, it becomes a part of me and stimulates my creativity at that point in time.”

This love of collecting is further illustrated by his life’s work – scrapbooks. He has 64 volumes to date, having started on the first one, Scrapbook No. 1 in 1977.

The books are an amalgamation of diverse printed material that is stuck on a page and then splattered with paint. Th e visuals are without exception colourful and vibrant, so much so that a selection of them were enlarged and combined into Painted Matter 1 (1997), a gigantic piece of art that stands at over 7.8m in height.

A further influence evident in Ohtake’s display of works is that of music from a variety of genres. He pays homage to Japanese pop singers from the 1960s in the nostalgic Exposure/Utashinai (2003) and pop art-esque Cape (2003); then in Dub-hei & New Chanel (1999), he honours rock music through a three-dimensional collage and automated musical performance system on a real stage. Th e work even includes the necessary instruments for a band to play live and is one of the many highlights at the exhibition.

Left, Dub-hei & New Chanel (1999) and right, Exposure/Utashinai (2003)

Visitors to New Universe on the Road are sure to be awed by the impact and energy of such creations. However, what’s most surprising is the very human sense of imperfection that makes Ohtake’s works so accessible and striking to everyone – even to the man on the street. The result? A must-see show for anyone who is flying to Fukuoka.

New Universe on the Road will be open to Ithe public from 14 July to 26 August at the Fukuoka Art Museum, which also boasts an impressive range of other temporary and permanent exhibits. The musuem’s well-stocked collection of modern art includes works by Warhol, Chagall, Miro and Dali, as well as the Matsunaga Gallery filled with ancient tea ceremony utensils and Buddhist sculptures.1-6 Ohori-Koen Park, Chuo-ku, tel +81 (0)92 714-6051, www.fukuoka-art-museum.jp

PICTURES: ILLUSTRATION OF SHINRO OHTAKE BY MELVIN HO