exhibition 3
katsuyuki shirako solo exhibition
2012.11.02 (fri.) -11.30 (fri.)
open on fri., sat., and sun. 12:00-18:00
weekday appointments also available
opening reception on 11.03 (sat.) 18:00-20:00
To creat my work, I layer maltiple images of things in the nature. It is why my work does not represent a specific being, but brings unlimited imagination to its viewers.
Katsuyuki Shirako
The reason almost all efforts in “Modern Lacquer” or “Contemporary Lacquer” end up being boring is that either simply copy the concepts of modern art in Japanese lacquer or they just produce uniformly standard shapes from being brainwashed by the ideology of “modern” (under such flowery concepts as “free form”, “natural”, “flow of consciousness”)
One of the very few artists who have served the ties to this type of modern artistic crafts is Katsuyuki Shirako, a member of the new generation of 21st century lacquer artists.
Carefully selected shapes, carved from base materials (MDF, Japanese Oak and/ or Lime tree) are minutely assembled together into a delicate objet onto which the absolute minimal lacquer is applied that nonetheless produces the most beautiful and brilliant shine. With absolute and painstaking attention to the concept ofhis objet, starting from the creation of the base wood and extending to the application of the lacquer, his three dimentional works surprisingly have the silent tension that fills traditional lacquer. This tension is still further crystallized in his photographic works that pair the eternity of lacquer with the transcience of flowers to creat a beautiful contrast of two different times.
Professor Minoru Shimizu (contemporary art critic)
