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Tadashi Kawamata Solo Exhibition "Destruction" in Taipei
2023/06/28
Tadashi Kawamata will hold a solo exhibition at a gallery in Taiwan starting July 15 (Sat.).（For available works of Kawamata, please visit artist page of Art Front Gallery: Click here）
■ Tadashi Kawamata Solo Exhibition - DESTRUCTION
2023 07.15 - 10.07
opening 07/15 15:00～17:00
非畫廊 Beyond Gallery
(2F, No.9, Chang An E. Rd., Sec.1, Taipei 104003, Taiwan)
Tadashi Kawamata is a Japanese artist that has been active in the international art scene since a young age, and has frequently been invited to exhibit his works at major international institutions and important biennials. His first solo exhibition in Taiwan, at Taipei’s Beyond Gallery, showcases a series of works titled Destruction created between 2017 and 2021.
The Destruction series exhibited at Beyond Gallery can be traced back to Tadashi Kawamata’s on-site creation of Under the Water in the Centre Pompidou-Metz in 2016, except that it shifts the viewers’ perspective back from looking upward to a direct frontal view. In an interview with Paris Art, Tadashi Kawamata mentioned that when the devastating March 11 tsunami hit Japan in 2011 he was just about to head back to Paris. He kept thinking about how he could maintain certain connections with the people facing hardships and challenges in the disaster-affected areas after his return to Paris. This led to the creation of Under the Water, a work that starkly reflects the haunting images of the disaster etched in his mind and subsequently spawned a series of works titled Destruction.
Rather than accusing, Kawamata’s artworks objectively portray his keen observations of the settings around his installations. He is always able to accurately identify the hidden qualities of a particular space, and dispassionately raise questions and guide people to see problems. As he himself states, he is not an environmental activist, and he is different from anti-nuclear and social activists. The essence of his work reflects the impermanence and constant change between social contexts and human relationships.
From a more positive perspective, Tadashi Kawamata’s artistic model represents a grip on the present, an encounter with “once in a lifetime” chance (ichigo ichie). Although his on-site artworks are fleeting – after each exhibition the artworks are dismantled, and the materials are recycled, returning everything to normal – it is precisely this traceless stay that provides viewers with flashes of inspiration, infinite imagination, and reflection. The worldly attachments and desires that consume people’s lives are like illusions; only by embracing the present moment can one access the keys to the value of life.
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