Kawaguchi Tatsuo 1990-1998

Kawaguchi Tatsuo 1990-1998 -- August 8 (Sat) to November 29 (Sun)

For further information, please call (029) 227-8111.
Mail to: webstaff@arttowermito.or.jp

**Tatsuo Kawaguchi**

Mr. Tatsuo KAWAGUCHI (born in 1940) is a major contemporary artist in Japan and a professor at the University of Tsukuba. He has participated in many group exhibitions, and has held solo exhibitions in Japan and abroad since the early 1960s.

The relevant theme throughout all of his work is the relationship betweenthe visible and the invisible. In other words, he creates his works using materials in the real world, and awakens the viewer's sense of time and space, aesthetics, life and death, and so forth, with his work functioning as a transparent passage.
Since the gallery specializes in contemporary art, the exhibition focuses on Kawaguchi's more recent artworks completed after 1990. It also includes works created by the artist specially for the exhibition, as well as several shown for the first time. All the works will be displayed in ten separate exhibition spaces, including the entrance hall and front plaza of ATM. While independent of each other, the spaces are simultaneously interconnected, allowing a single energy force to pervade the entire gallery.

Since Mito is only a short distance from Tsukuba, where Kawaguchi has taught for 15 years, he will be an honored guest at a number of events during the exhibition.

Relation - Ribirth/Seed of sunflower and tooth of mammoth (1998)
Photo: Kazumi Takahashi

<"Sealed Time">

The materials in Kawaguchi's works are partially hidden: sealed in a way that the viewer cannot see them directly. For example, he covers seeds with lead and lotus leaves with beeswax, and embosses fossils against paper. His methods thus leave room for the viewers' imagination. The act of sealing preserves life and information energies, while giving the viewer the freedom to exercise his or her imagination.

The objects sealed in the ATM exhibition this time include seeds, fossils, lotus and newspapers. The seeds symbolize "birth" while they are connected to a future time. Fossils symbolize "death" and direct one's attention to the past (death linked with the idea of revitalization). "Sealed Time" represents the history of several billion years since the dawn of life, while at the same time suggesting the potential of the future.

Exhibition Details

Title: Kawaguchi Tatsuo 1990-1998
Period: August 8 (Sat) to November 29 (Sun), 1998
Venue: Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, Mito City (Ibaraki Prefecture)
Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (no admission after 6:00 p.m.)
Closed: Mondays (except November 23) and November 24 (Tue), 1998
Organizer: Mito Arts Foundation
Grant from: Japan Arts Council Fund
Sponsors: Shiseido, Co., Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation
Cooperation: Takeo, Co., Ltd., SOUM Corporation, It's Co., Ltd., The Norinchukin Bank Mito Branch
Admission:
¥800 General
¥600 Advance-purchase tickets, groups (20 or more)
¥1,000 H.T.P.
(one-year High Teen Pass for 15- to 19-year-olds, available at ATM and JR East)
Free Students (through 9th grade), senior citizens (65 and older), and handicapped persons
Tickets: Available at JR East ticket counters (Midori-no-madoguchi), View Plaza, TICKET SAISON, TICKET PIA, Art Tower Mito Ticket Counter
Information: Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito

Exhibition-related Events

1. Opening Lecture on "My Works since 1990"

Date: August 8 (Sat)
Time: 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. (Doors open at 1:30 p.m.)
Lecturer: Tatsuo Kawaguchi
Seating capacity: 80 (free seating)
Admission: Free of charge (included in the exhibition fee)

2. Tatsuo Kawaguchi's Workshop for Children (4th to 6th graders)
"Let it flow on water, sink it in water"

Date: August 23 (Sun)
Time: 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Seating capacity: 20 (reservations necessary)
~~Admission: Nominal fee~~ Sorry, reached the fixed number.

3. Kawaguchi "Relation" College--Undoing the Sealed Time

Kawaguchi's works, based on the theme of relations, are interpreted from multiple viewpoints.

Lecturers: Tatsuo Kawaguchi, Sadamu Saito, Eriko Yoshida, Takashi Shinkawa, and others
Attendees: Limited to 30 full-time students (reservations necessary) and about 30 other listeners (reservations accepted)
Admission: Nominal fee
Sorry, the full-time course reached the fixed number.

4. Special Lecture / Open Lecture
Kawaguchi's "Relation" College Group 'i' / Between Man and Matter --
Exploring Kawaguchi's Origin"

Date: October 3 (Sat)
Time: 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. (doors open at 1:30 p.m.)
Lecturers: Yuusuke Nakahara, Tatsuo Kawaguchi
Seating capacity: 100
Admission: Free of charge

5. Visit "Breathing View / Tatsuo Kawaguchi
"Dialogue with the Invisible" Exhibition (Community Lecture #2)
(November 21 through December 20, 1998)

Iwaki City Art Museum will exhibit Kawaguchi's newest works and other works
from the 1970s and the 1980s, including the work "Relation - Education."
Because the lecture is part of our community lecture series, we will organize a bus tour to visit this exhibition.

Date: November 28 (Sat) (reservations necessary)
Please contact Art Tower Mito at (029) 227-8120 for further details regarding the above events.

Brief Profile of Tatsuo Kawaguchi

1940 Born in Kobe (Hyogo Prefecture)
1962 Graduated from Tama University of Fine Art, Tokyo, majoring in painting
1965 Formed Group "i"
1966 Awarded Mainichi Shimbun Kyoto Branch Manager Award at the "1st Mainichi Art Competition Exhibition for French Gov't Scholarship"
1967 Won the Excellence Award at the "3rd Japan Art Festival"
1975-76 Dispatched by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, traveled through Europe and America for study
1983 Appointed Associate Professor of Fine Arts, The University of Tsukuba
1991 Appointed Professor of Fine Arts, The University of Tsukuba

Description of Displays by Exhibition Space

Room A

"Relation--Time of the Lotus / Copper Space" 1997-98 (First time shown)
The floor is covered with copper plates, and beeswax-covered lotus flowers adorn the walls. The lotus and copper plates are connected by copper wires, through which a low electric current is passed. The lighting up of electric bulbs connected to the wires indicates a current passing.

Room B

"Relation--Embossing Time" 1996-98 (First time shown)
Pieces of Japanese paper, embossed with fossils, are attached with beeswax to about 200 boxes that are painted yellow with beeswax. The narrow space, resembling a corridor, is filled with yellow pieces of artwork.

Room C

"Relation--Expansion / Newspaper" 1994-95 (First time shown, Image)
The front pages of several newspapers are covered with thin layers of white beeswax, mixed with natural chalk and zinc oxide. The approximately 80 art works are united by the theme of "sealing" news and the energy contained in information.

"Relation--Expansion / Newspaper, Sealing Information Energy" 1998 (First time shown)
Two piles of newspapers, stocked for about 18 months, are fixed by wooden boards and metal fixtures, and the newspapers are sealed with beeswax.

Room D

"Relation---Farming Tools" 1991
Seeds are glued onto farming tools, which are covered with lead. Drawings have been made by placing them on pieces of paper and outlining them with a pencil. The total of ten objects and nine drawings demonstrate the energy flowing from the seeds.

Room E

"Surrounding the Seed" 1991, 1991-93
Watercolors on paper are exhibited, along with objects formed with copper plates. Each of the 20 works exhibited has small pieces of lead in the center, with the seeds sealed inside.

Room F

"Relation--Time of the Lotus / the Ascension" 1992, 1998 (First time shown, Image)
Lotus sepals and stems are covered with lead, and are displayed on the walls of this pyramid-shaped room, suggesting the Ascension.

"Relation--Time of the Lotus / Dream of Three Thousand Years" 1994
A lotus sepal and stem, covered with lead, are spread out on a bed.

Room G

"Relation--Lead Space, Seed Space" 1998 (First time shown, Image)
Four kinds of seeds are covered with lead, and are displayed on the walls in the manner of tiles. The whole space has been given a lead color.

"Relation--Sound of Lead, Sound of Seeds" 1993-94
The piano, with cosmos seeds on its keyboard, is covered with lead.

Room H

"Relation--Water / Sight Breathing via Branchial Respiration" 1995-98 (Some works shown for the first time)
Parts of the works are sealed with water. A work suggesting the image of sealing the whole gallery is also displayed. A total of 13 works is displayed.

Entrance Hall

"Relation--Water Sitting on Chair" 1998 (First time shown)
A bowl, covered with beeswax, is placed on a chair covered with lead. A container, made of copper, holds a lead-covered lotus seed, and floats on the water inside the bowl. A weight hangs above the water in the fashion of "Foucault's Pendulum."

"Relation--Regeneration / Sunflower Seeds and Mammoth's Tooth" 1998 (First time shown)
A basket filled with sunflower seeds shows a fossil of a mammoth's tooth protruding.

Front Plaza

"Relation--Greenhouse / for Flowers" 1998 (First time shown)
This is a transparent version of "Relation--Lead Greenhouse" created in 1990. "Relation--Seed / for Flowers" is displayed inside a green house.

Other Concurrent Programs at Contemporary Art Gallery:

1. Criterium 36: Isao Hiramachi
Period: August 8 (Sat) to October 4 (Sun), 1998
Venue: Room 9 of Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito
Admission: Free (included in exhibition ticket)
Artist Talk: September 27 (Sun), 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.

2. Roadside Japan photo exhibition by Kyoichi Tsuzuki

Period: October 17 (Sat) to November 29 (Sun), 1998
Venue: Room 9 and Workshop of Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito
Admission: Free (included in exhibition ticket)

3. Lecture on Roadside Japan by Kyoichi Tsuzuki (Community Lecture #1)

Period: Saturday, October 17, 2:00-3:30 p.m.
Venue: onference Hall, Art Tower Mito
Admission: ¥500
Seats: Available to the first 80 people

"Fukuroda no Taki-zu"
(Landscape, Fukuroda Falls)
1996

CRITERIUM 36: Isao Hiramachi

Period: August 8 (Sat) to October 4 (Sun), 1998
Venue: Room 9 of Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito
Admission: Free (included in exhibition ticket)
Artist Talk: September 27 (Sun), 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.

The Latin word "criterium" is based on the Greek word "criterion," meaning "standard." The series features artists who are energetically engaged in exploring the possibilities of new forms of expression. Planning is assisted by the ATM Contemporary Art Center curator.

Support programs

H.T.P. (High Teen Pass) One-year pass for 15- to 19-year-olds, giving free admission to exhibitions organized by the Contemporary Art Center for a year from the day of purchase. ¥1,000
Discount for groups of 20 or more people. ¥600
Free admission given to children (through 9th grade), senior citizens (65 or older) and to handicapped persons.

Weekend Gallery Talk by volunteers
Starting on August 15 (Sat), volunteer staff members will offer gallery talks on weekends during the exhibition. The talks begin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Meet at the entrance of the gallery. Talks may be suspended depending on the circumstances. Please make inquires in advance.

HOME	Concerts	Tickets
Information	Drama/Dance	Membership
	Exhibitions	Special Essay