An exhibition titled ‘Vanishing Point - Contemporary Japanese Art’ was inaugurated at National Gallery of Modern Art In New Delhi recently. The show was the joint effort of NGMA and Japan Foundation.

The exhibition is part of the Indo-Japan Friendship year and has been touted as the best opportunity for the connoisseurs of art to get a glimpse of Japanese contemporary art from 1960 to the present. The works of the various artists on display have a common visual language despite differences in style.

For instance, Keisuke Yamaguchi creates works that are analogous to the plant world and hint at discovering life.

His work titled, ‘Heart Of The Plant’ presents a unified vision of the human heart with a flower’s life. The artist explains, “We all like to use the heart shape to give a form to feelings that cannot be seen with the eyes. These thoughts led me to take interest in human body. To me, sometimes the organs of the human body look like plants”. At the same time, Masanori Sukenari’s works inhabit, fill and reconstruct space. Sukenari has made a new installation at the dome in NGMA in his signature style that comprises contoured shapes and patterns.

Different arts

Artist Ishihara uses photographs to play up the dualistic cosmology comprising the foreground and its depth. The blurred self portrait at Nijo Castle draw attention to the sensuousness surrounding the centre of absence and the resultant super ordinary link to the world. In a similar fashion, Yukio Nakagawa incorporates photographs, antiques, calligraphy and ceramics in his works. His ceramics and glass work are a revalidation of the sensibility of his nation and culture and a reference to the Ikebana flower arrangement in an avant-garde fashion.

Nakagawa’s works like ‘Claws Fastening in the Currents of Time’ and ‘Sacred Book’ employ starkness of colour and form.

For Atsuko Tanaka, the creator of the electrical dress, electronics and mechanics form the basis of her exploration of unknown dimensions. What makes Tanaka’s work notable among her contemporaries is her novelty in making living creatures. Her work conquers the demarcation between painting, sculpture and performance.

On the other hand, Murase’s work is an isolated journey to discover herself. She sets her exploration in tune with nature, in a sensibility that is essentially feminine. In ‘Mosgarden’ and ‘Mothparadise’, there is an urge to relate herself to the weightlessness of a butterfly or a moth.

The winged woman with the intricate wings embodies the freedom to explore, to wander, to discover – however, alone. The various seasons and the garden installations exude certain sensuality where one is tempted to almost sample by touch the delicate intricacy of Murase’s strokes.

Concept of duality

Artist Mitsuko Miwa employs the concept of duality in his images. His works like ‘Double Buffalo’, ‘Holy Supper’ and ‘Religion and a Nude’ move beyond the simple images of a linear reality to express the dual facets of everyday life. Hirakawa makes digital installations to recreate Japanese landscapes through a brilliant interplay of colour and light.

Perhaps, the most cutting edge in this group of artists is Takehito Koganezawa who believes in preserving every interesting dream by sketching and making notes. He integrates latest technology, video and science in explaining the concept of nothingness.

In his ‘Stir of Universe’ series, there is no room for despair as the neon signs and bold colours underscore the vitality of modern day life albeit juxtaposed with the vastness of the night sky. Finally, last but not the least is Saburo Muraoka, the senior-most artist in this group, who reinterprets the sensuality of the self through his art.

Muraoka’s work’s thematic concern is to encompass invisible energies. Hence, heat (i.e. body temperature) and even oxygen are used as materials in his work. His movement from iron to other materials essential to life introduces scope for ceaseless interpretations. Existence independent of death as visible through ‘Standing Bed’ and ‘Muraoka Stop’ all exhibit the works of a true master of the experimental genre.