村上隆・虹の尾を踏む
Takashi Murakami Exhibit - Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow

The World of Gold Leaf. Gold leaf is used by religious architectures throughout the world.
The material is often mainly used on the exterior walls of buildings but in Japan, it was
used to control the interior light. In humid Japan, the sunlight is never incredibly harsh. So
in the past when it wasn't possible to secure a steady level of light indoors from sources
such as electric light, it was important to figure out how to utilize what available amount of
light there was in this context, in which art functioned as a means to modulate light,
paintings took a modest position of working closely with the architecture even as the forms
and colors of its imagery had to be clearly decipherable in the dim light. This resulted in
clear, design-oriented pictorial compositions in such paintings. As well, paintings in
residential spaces such as those on screen doors were primarily a stage design, a
backdrop to the actions of the people who lived in the space. The protagonists of the story
therefore were not in the paintings. Interestingly, such paintings, mostly based on natural
motifs and playing a supporting role, resonating with the reflections produced by the gold
leaf functioning as a light-regulating device, has created an unusual effect of somehow
enhancing the paintings' dominance over the space in which they are placed. Such
paintings have a strong presence without any narrative involving a protagonist. This
organizational structure of a painting directly relates to contemporary art, wherein the goal
is solely to conceptually discuss the structure of a painting. The body of my work that
utilizes metallic leaf attempts to recreate the resonating power of metallic leaf and
paintings by combining the said effect with the kawaii (cute) culture of post-war Japan.

"In the Land of the Dead: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow" (2014)
"Kaikai Kiki"  ・  "Mr. DOB"  ・  Figures  ・  100 Arhats
Black Gallery  ・  Flowers  ・  Dream Hall  ・  Skulls
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