Akira Fujimoto Solo Exhibition
“Mineralization”
▼OPENING RECEPTION
October 21st (Saturday), 2023 | 18:00-19:00
■Period
October 21st (Saturday) - November 18th (Saturday), 2023 *open by appointment on Nov. 23-26
Wednesdays - Fridays 13:00 - 18:00｜Saturdays 13:00 - 19:00
(closed on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and National Holidays)
*The exhibition will be on view by appointment during Tokyo Art Book Fair on Nov. 23 (Thu) - 26 (Sun).
Please fill out the reservation form if you wish to visit the exhibition during this period.
■Venue
KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY
4-7-6 Shirakawa, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0021 JAPAN
*car parking available in front of the gallery
▼ART WEEK TOKYO
The gallery will participate in “ART WEEK TOKYO” from November 2 to November 5. This art event will connect 50 art galleries and museums across Tokyo with shuttle buses running on seven routes. Please note the exhibition will have irregular opening hours during this period.
Dates:
Hours:
Details:
November 2 (Thu) - 5 (Sun), 2023
10:00-18:00
KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY is pleased to present “Mineralization,” a solo exhibition by Akira Fujimoto starting October 21, 2023.
Akira Fujimoto is an artist who has been implementing unique projects that question society, such as “SONO AIDA,” a project that utilizes urban blank spaces; “TOKYO 2021,” which presented the future of symbols; and “FUTURE MEMORY,” which connects memories to the future, and has been treating uncontrollable phenomena that occur in society and the environment as meta and has been transforming them into various visual phenomena. This exhibition, “Mineralization,” will focus on his new series Dig up, transforming marine debris into art.
The marine plastics (processed petroleum products) that form the basis of these works are, in the first place, a mass of energy. The marine debris that overflows from society into the ocean is carried by the sun’s and the earth’s energy, such as winds and ocean currents, and accumulates on the coasts beyond national borders. Like a treasure hunter, I search for marine debris not found on maps, go to the beaches without roads, collect them, and melt them artificially with heat and pressure to make them into individual pieces. I call this process, which involves enormous energy, “Mineralization.” And I also propose them as pieces of jewelry made by cutting and polishing the plastic that melts into each other.
Akira Fujimoto
The first series in Fujimoto’s marine garbage works was Last Hope, which began in 2019 by melting and solidifying marine plastic waste accumulated on beaches on site. As environmental issues become more serious by the day, the series has attracted domestic and international attention in recent years. At the same time, Fujimoto has continuously focused on “energy” as an essential mobility force for contemporary society since the art project “NEW RECYCLE®︎” (2010) and his first solo exhibition “Peak Oil” (CAPSULE, Tokyo, 2014) and other exhibitions such as “Energy Translation Now” and “Recycle Phenomenon.”
In this exhibition, the latest in the marine garbage series, the artist will examine the series from the energy perspective again. It will offer a panoramic view of works that mineralize the activities of human beings, who produce and consume a vast amount of energy daily in harmony with the earth.
Artist Profile
Akira Fujimoto was born in 1975 in Tokyo. After working at the communication research center FABRICA (Italy) in 1999, Fujimoto completed his M.Des. at Tokyo University of the Arts. After working as an assistant professor at the Department of Inter Media Art, Tokyo University of the Arts, he has been executing exhibitions and projects that question uncontrollable phenomena in society and the environment. He combines various materials and digital controls to create works of art.
https://vimeo.com/akirafujimoto
His major solo exhibitions include “Refraction of Reality” (2022, KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY, Tokyo), “Diastrophism” (2022, Roppongi Tsutaya books BOOK GALLERY, Tokyo), “A Plastic Onshore” (2021, Sunshine City, Tokyo), “Foreground of the Sea” (2021, Kawaguchi Municipal Museum of History and Nature, Saitama), “Trace of Marine Debris” (2021, elephant STUDIO, Tokyo), and “Structure Slide” (2021, GALLERY ROOM・A, Tokyo).
Group exhibitions include “Proximate Horizons” (2022, Sono Aida #Shin-Yurakucho, Tokyo), “FUTURE MEMORY” (2021, COURTYARD HIROO GALLERY, Tokyo), “Sono Aida #COVID-19” (2020, Online Exhibition), “Engineering of Mourning” (2019, TODA BUILDING [TOKYO 2021], Tokyo), and “Cross Domain” (2018, Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum, Suzhou, China).
He also organizes the art project “SONO AIDA,” which utilizes empty spaces in urban areas.
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