2007
南条嘉毅個展 " 土世界-The world of the soil- "
Solo Exhibition " -The world of the soil- "
COEXIST (Tokyo)
Soil, video, and others
Organized by: Fukase Memorial Foundation for Visual Arts Preservation
Curation: Haruaki Hanasaka
In cooperation with: YUKARI ART CONTEMPORARY
2007
南条嘉毅個展 " 土世界-The world of the soil- "
Solo Exhibition " -The world of the soil- "
COEXIST (Tokyo)
Soil, video, and others
Organized by: Fukase Memorial Foundation for Visual Arts Preservation
Curation: Haruaki Hanasaka
In cooperation with: YUKARI ART CONTEMPORARY
Yoshitaka Nanjo is a young artist who creates landscape paintings using the very soil of the land he depicts as his material.
His works, based on Japanese landscapes and employing a simple and uncluttered composition, require meticulous and delicate work in their creation, including the selection of soil and landscapes.
His landscapes, painted with soil, and the land and environment he uses as motifs, not only capture the ever-changing landscapes on the canvas but also capture the "soil" present in those locations, thus preserving the "original landscape as a record and memory for future generations." We invite you to take this opportunity to view his unique landscape paintings.
-A modern-day quintessential landscape-
Yoshitaka Nanjo creates "landscape paintings" using the soil of the land he depicts as his motif as the material itself.
His work is characterized by its use of Japanese landscapes as motifs, employing a simple and uncluttered composition of the local scenery. However, the creation process, including the selection of soil and landscapes, is extremely meticulous and delicate, requiring a great deal of time and concentration.
He seeks inspiration for his work by personally visiting locations and conducting thorough research, capturing only the landscapes he perceives through his five senses, along with the soil of the site, onto the canvas. Although it is simply "soil," the main components of the soil differ from place to place, so his works also show subtle variations in color depending on the location. Not only does he capture the ever-changing landscapes, the land and environment that serve as his motifs, as landscape paintings, but by fixing the pure, natural color of "soil" directly into his works, he transforms the "original landscape that exists now" into an act of art that preserves it as a record and memory for future generations.
With the advancement of transportation, opportunities to walk and see the scenery on foot have decreased. Instead of just looking at tourist guides when traveling or going to a destination, take your time to observe not only your destination but also the scenery along the way, at your own pace and with your own eyes... Perhaps I understand the environment and grasp the modern world by "observing."
His creative process, which involves traveling to various lands on foot and encountering and observing different kinds of soil, can be seen as an act of reaffirming and experiencing the fact that humans, as living beings, stand on this earth. What is necessary for us to stand and live on this earth? Considering that humans do not live alone but must interact with all aspects of the environment, it goes without saying that "soil," which is the earth itself, is an indispensable and important part of the environment, and that we must "first stand on the earth."
Through his approach of creating landscape paintings using "soil" as a material, we can perhaps discover a direct and fundamental underlying theme of "standing on the soil, what we see from there, and what we think about" by appreciating the "original landscape that exists now."
Fukase Memorial Foundation for the Preservation of Visual Arts (Curation: Haruaki Hanasaka)