“Brilliant children”
Installtion view at Aichi Triennale 2019
“Brilliant children” 2019
Photo: Takeshi Hirabayashi
The interior of the venue is subdivided by temporary walls into smaller exhibition spaces, through which traffic lines guide visitors on their tour around a total of more than 180 paintings. Starting with the large painting of a crane truck in the first space, such motifs as children and cars keep appear in subsequent works, along with countless texts that are scattered all over the place. Rather than functioning as independent, individual works, the single elements together make up an installation piece that revolves around one subject matter. Although centering around paintings, the work unfolds along a time axis. On display in the last space is a painting of a child in a car, with birds of various colors and a crane around it.
The subject of this work is a car accident that occurred in reality. The accident was caused by an epileptic who suffered a seizure while driving, eventually killing six elementary school students. The case triggered various social reactions, including the enactment of a law to punish driving that causes death or injury. Based on his research into the accident, the artist addresses in his work not only issues of the "victims" but also of the "perpetrator," while also referring to the notion of violence that lurks in the automobiles we use in everyday life.
A display of multiple connected paintings arranged in an interior setting, this research-based installation documenting an accident surely is quite unique as an art exhibit. While one may point out certain influences from video art, which the artist originally studied, the work can be interpreted as a reminder of that prayer-like notion in the act of painting that makes it almost like a requiem, as opposed to using a camera for shooting and editing images.
YUMISASHI Kanji
- Born 1986 in Mie, Japan
- Based in Tokyo, Japan
Yumisashi Kanji is a painter who consistently returns to the themes of suicide and mourning. After graduate school he started a video production company in Nagoya with a university friend, but he resigned from his role as representative director in 2013 before going to Tokyo and starting out as an artist. His mother, who had suffered mentally and physically since an earlier traffic accident, died by suicide in 2015, while Yumisashi was studying in the first class at Genron Chaos*Lounge New Art School. He had a vision of a bird holding a gold ring before her funeral procession, and this has become a core motif that appears again and again in many of the pieces that Yumisashi has created since. His Mourning O, which took the death by suicide of a pop idol 30 years prior as its theme, was awarded the Toshiko Okamoto Award at the 21st Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art in 2018. Mermaid in April, Yuminashi's exhibition from the same year, was a continuation from that piece and attracted widespread attention.
Selected Works & Awards
| 2019 | Dinamite Traveler, SHEEP STUDIO, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2019 | Taro went to the battle field, Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2018 | Mermaid in April (solo), Genron Chaos * Lounge Gotanda Atelier, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2018 | The 21st Exhibition of the Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art, Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan, Toshiko Okamoto Award |
| 2016 | First Premise First Press, Genron Chaos * Lounge New Art School Achievement Exhibition, Tokyo, Japan, Gold Prize |
Map
Maison Nagono 808
Address
Open
(Fri-21:00)
Admission until
15 minutes
before closing
Closed
Access
・7 minutes on foot from Kokusai Center Station on the Sakura-dori Subway Line.
・10 minutes on foot from Nagoya Station.