Supported by U.S. Embassy,Tokyo,Yamanashi Prefecture,Yamanashi Board of Education, Hokuto City, Hokuto City Board of Education
Special Thanks to The Keith Haring Foundation,The Museum of Art, Kochi,Tama City Cultural Foundation, CMIC HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.
In this exhibition, we reexamine the art of Keith Haring in 360 degrees.
In the early 1980s, Haring started drawing with chalk on blank advertising spaces in the New York subway system. With the Subway Drawings, he quickly rose to fame. Since his first solo show in 1981, his self-curated exhibitions extended not only in galleries but also clubs and theaters. At the same time, he managed to elevate his status as an artist through participating in large-scale international art fairs such as Documenta 7 (1982) and Venice Biennale (1984). Even after 30 years since his death at the mere age of 31, his popularity is still prominent to this day. Contrary to the widely known impression of his work’s simple and uplifting nature, his artwork is often about children, anti-war/anti-nuclear power, anti-racism, anti-homophobia, and anti-HIV/AIDS-stigma. Haring did not restrict his vision spatially or temporally. He looked at the world from many different angles, such as his deep understanding of art history and fascination with technology.
The highlight of this exhibition is a sculpture, Untitled (Figure Balancing on Dog), 1989.The raw aluminum oeuvre shines subtly, distinct to his other sculpture works in vivid colors. Just walk around and take a look at the piece.The two-dimensional shapes made into figures popping out of a flat surface appear differently depending on the angle. It may appear to be a figure just having fun riding a dog, or as the title suggests, trying to balance on a dog.The balancing figure and the dog may signify the human-animal cohabitation on earth or the fear of the unknown in society.
In this exhibition, for the first time, documentary photography by artist and journalist Makoto Murata is on display. Murata photographed Haring throughout NewYork City from December 1982 to January 1983.
The exhibition includes a paint-on-tarpaulin work, Untitled KH.200 (1982/The Museum of Art, Kochi), mural works painted with close to 500 children, MyTown and Peace I-IV (1987/Tama City Cultural Foundation), and the latest addition to our collection, a six-lithograph-series, Bad Boys (1986).
Untitled (KH.200), 1982, The Museum of Art, Kochi
Exhibition period: May 15. 2021–January 11. 2022
Documentary Photographs, 1982–1983, Never before seen, Photo by ©Makoto Murata
My Town, Peace I–IV, 1987, Tama City Cultural Foundation
Exhibition period: May 15. 2021–October 11. 2021
Untitled (Figure Balancing on Dog), 1989, Photo by ©Shu Nakagawa
2021年10月30日(土) – 12月12日(日)、公益財団法人 清春芸術村、中村キース・へリング美術館、公益財団法人 平山郁夫シルクロード美術館、女神の森 セントラルガーデン、身曾岐神社を舞台にHOKUTO ART PROGRAM ed.1を開催します。
第一回目を迎える本年は、多様なジャンルのアーティストが参加し、アート・建築・映画・音楽などのカルチャーを、山梨県北杜市固有の景色や空気と融合させることで、不確実な世界に向けて、新たな感動体験をつくります。
主催 HOKUTO ART PROGRAM 実行委員会
総合ディレクター 吉井仁実
<中村キース・ヘリング美術館では、下記日程で特別展示をいたします>
October 16, 2021 – May 8, 2022
Akira Wakita: For Alan and Keith
[Artist statement]
I wanted to create a timeless dialogue between two artistic geniuses, Alan Turing (1912-1954. En-
glish mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist
and Keith Herring, who lived in different eras as sexual minorities. In my works, I mathematically
reinterpreted Haring’s drawings and expressed the changing discussion of diversity while shifting
from homophobia to a more accepting one of LGBT.
Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe. -Galileo Galilei
[Akira Wakita]
While crossing the boundaries of science and art, he creates works to show landscapes that cannot
be seen with the naked eye through images, installations, sculptures, and live activities. He has
exhibited his works at Ars Electronica Center, WRO Art Center, Mutek, Redbull Music Festival, Kiyo-
haru Art Colony, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, Media Ambition Tokyo,
2121_DESIGN SIGHT, etc. Major exhibitions include “Takahashi Collection” Face and Abstract
“-with Kiyoharu Shirakaba Museum Collection” (2018) and “NEW SYNERGETICS -NISSAN LEAF x
AKIRA WAKITA” (2017) integrated with Nissan LEAF. He is a PhD (Media and Governance). He is a
professor at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University.
http://akirawakita.com/
Instagram: @akira.wakita
＊脇田玲による解説はこちら
October 30, 2021 – May 8, 2022
SIDE CORE：IC1（Imaginary Collection 1）
[Artist statement]
The artist group SIDE CORE has been planning exhibitions for the past 10 years. The first exhibition was held in 2012 in Harajuku where valuable materials symbolizing the dawn of hip-hop and street art were exhibited at the entrance of the venue.
It was in January 1988 when Keith Haring, who was visiting Japan, made a chalk drawing on the sidewalk while a dance crew including CHINO and AOP performed breakdancing in the pedestrian precinct zone of Yoyogi Park. Haring’s drawing on the baseball jersey that the dancer was wearing at that time is currently on display at this Museum.
While working with nearly 100 artists of different ages, genders and nationalities, SIDE CORE had the opportunity to receive, exchange and purchase works. Each work they own is very attractive and valuable. This time, we created a special room in Nakamura Keith Haring Collection filled with art works that have been collected by SIDE CORE. The artist’s collection of works has a different meaning than that of museums and collectors. Like the story at the beginning, it is a memory of the relationships between artists, a reference of the production of works and gives a story to art history.
In this exhibition, we built a room resembling a house of a member of SIDE CORE or a studio.The viewer can appreciate the work by looking into the private space. In a space that can be called a memory room, each work has a different meaning depending on the viewing angle and the combination that can be seen from a certain position.
SIDE CORE has been collecting works by developing research and projects based on street art, including Keith Haring’s works as historical materials as well as works of various artists who made the subsequent era; to the works of teenage artists who are active on the street like former Keith Haring.
This collection weaves stories that are beyond time and space.Take a peek into the room and experience the “subsequent story” that SIDE CORE sees while looking into Haring’s head.
[SIDE CORE]
SIDE CORE is a unit started in 2012. The group is composed of members TASKASU Sakie,
MATSUSHITA Tohru, and NISHIHIRO Taishi, who have been behind various art projects on street
culture. Their projects are action-based and designed to “make some noise,” based on research of
different cities and regions. In addition to holding exhibitions at galleries and museums, they have
also extended their range of activity outside the white cube to outdoor spaces that include mural
projects and “NIGHT Walk” that explores the city. All of their projects aim to shift perspectives and
thoughts surrounding public spaces and expand the realm of creative expression and action.
Recent exhibitions include Great Kyoto Arts Festival 2020 in Kyotango (2020, Kyoto), Living Tokyo
(2020, Watarium, Tokyo), and Out of Blueprints by Serpentine Galleries (2020, NOWNESS, UK) etc.
Instagram: @side_core_tokyo
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