高木智広 個展 “Rabbit Hole”
Tomohiro Takagi Solo Exhibition “Rabbit Hole”
■GALLERY KOGURE NEW YORK (closed)
■2017.6.21 – 7.29
■11:00 – 18:00
■Closed on Sunday and Monday
Rabbit Hole
2017 / oil on canvas / 45.5×35.4cm
Scream
2017 / oil on canvas / 41.0×27.3cm
GALLERY KOGURE NEW YORK is pleased to announce solo exhibition of Tomohiro Takagi.
Humans are simply a part of nature. We who live in contemporary society in which this basic fact is not recognized are instinctively weak before the power of nature. Takagi keenly depicts the reality of human beings divided by nature through animals, which are superior to humans.
In Takagi’s pictures, humans are dominated by animals and are depicted as being extremely wild. Humans are depicted as being prey in nature, with parts of the body that are parasitic to animals or are fused together with animals; it is reminiscent of spirits in primitive religion.
In 1994, when he came into contact with people who were living as a part of nature in Papua New Guinea, Takagi noticed the terminal sense of distance between nature and human society. Based on his experience in deeply feeling how modern societies are unconnected with nature, he indicated that nature is “the same,” including human activities. Subsequently, through his brushwork that full of vitality and wildness, he has instinctively depicted people who live hard in the mysterious light and dark with the theme of the relationship between nature and humans.
GALLERY KOGURE
Coming into contact with various creatures in abundant nature from my childhood, I grew up while sometimes sketching and making my own illustrative books, which has become the core of my later artistic endeavors.
In my twenties, I had the opportunity to travel the remote areas of Papua New Guinea, where I met people who lived in a near-primitive state. Humans lived off the blessings of nature as other animals did,and I saw that humans sometimes fell prey to crocodiles. Some tribes have a fear of crocodiles, worship the crocodiles, and alter their own skin to make it like that of a crocodile.
For me, as a person who is living in a modern society where humans and nature have long become antonyms, experiencing a world where the boundary between humans and other living things is ambiguous has provided a great stimulus, and I seek to be able to express such a borderless world through painting.
I went to Paris during my early twenties and independently studied classical paintings and religious paintings. I returned from Paris and moved to Kyoto, where I am still involved in my artistic activities.
There are many temples, shrines, and churches in Kyoto, and many gods coexist in the same region. In contrast with Western religions, in which there is a single absolute God, since ancient times in Japan, the belief in a myriad of diverse gods in nature has produced a spirit of magnanimity and diversity. I believe that diversity is also important in art.
The root of diversity is something primitive that people in various countries sympathize with, and I would like to express that through my paintings.
Artist Official Page
GALLERY KOGURE NEW YORKでは、高木智弘個展を開催いたします。
人は自然の一部に過ぎない。この当たり前の事が成立していない現代社会に生きる者も、本能的に自然の威力の前には弱者である。高木は人より優位である動物を通して、自然と分断されている人間の現実を痛烈に描く。
高木の絵の中では、人は動物に支配され、極めて野性的に描かれている。そこには自然の中では捕食される立場にある弱い人間がいて、身体の一部が動物にパラサイトされていたり、あるいは一体化した生き様や、時には原始宗教の精霊のような存在が描かれている。
1994年にパプアニューギニアで自然の一部として暮らす人々の暮らしに触れた際に、高木は自然と人間社会の末期的な距離感に気づいた。現代社会がいかに自然と無縁なものかを痛切に感じた経験から、自然は人間の営みをも含む「同一」のものであるとし、それ以降、自然と人間の関係性をテーマに、謎めいた明暗の中に懸命に生きる者達を、生命力と野性感あふれる筆致で本能あらわに描いている。
GALLERY KOGURE
幼少の頃より豊かな自然の中で様々な生き物に触れ、時にスケッチをして自分だけの図鑑を作ったりしながら育ったことが後の制作活動の核となっているように感じます。
20代にパプアニューギニアの奥地を旅する機会があり、そこで原始に近い生活を送る人々に出会いました。ヒトも他の動物と同じように自然の恵みによって生かされ、時にはヒトがワニに捕食されることもあります。ワニに対し畏怖の念を抱き、ワニを崇拝し、肌を傷つけ自らの肌をワニのようにする部族もあります。
いつからか人間と自然が対義語になっている現代社会に暮らす私にとって、人間と他の生き物の境界が曖昧な世界を体験したことは大きな刺激となり、そのようなボーダーレスな世界を絵画で表現出来ないかと模索しています。
20代前半にパリに渡り、独自に古典絵画、宗教絵画の研究をしました。パリから戻り京都に移り住み現在も京都で制作活動を行っています。
京都には多くの社寺と神社、教会があり、多くの神様が共存しています。西洋の宗教では絶対的な唯一の神様という存在に対し、日本では古くから様々なものに神様が宿るという八百万の思想がそのような寛大さと多様性を生んでいるのだと思います。芸術においても多様性が重要だと考えます。