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Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb
Reviews
Written by Mizuki TANAKA   
Published: May 20 2011

fig. 1  “Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb” Installation view: Mori Art Museum, 2010/11/27-2011/2/27
Phantom-Limb, 1997, C-print, 148 x 111 cm (each, set of 5), Collection: Takahashi Collection, Tokyo, Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo Courtesy: Mori Art Museum

fig. 2  “Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb” Installation view: Mori Art Museum, 2010/11/27-2011/2/27
Inferno, 2008–10, Video installation (5 min. 37 sec., loop): 8-channel synchronized HD video projection, 4.1ch sound, 556×φ610 cm, Collection of the artist, Music: Takashima Kei, Production support: Stitch Co. Ltd., McRAY, Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo Courtesy: Mori Art Museum

    This exhibition is scary. Odani loved horror movies in his youth, and he was also interested in Buddhist statues, probably because he was from Kyoto. That taste lead him to study carving at Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku. He presented his work at 2003 Venice Biennale. This is a solo exhibition of the person, Odani Motohiko. His works are eerie at first glance. The venue is full of statues of ghost-like figure, carvings of propagated warts, video works that are simulating Zombie movies and what not. He makes it look like a horror house. However, it is only the beginning. The real terror starts from there.

The works that this artist have created are grouped by concepts in this exhibition. As I went around to watch the works, I started to see this artist's broad perspective. He was creating his own unique view of the world and placing the view in the history of art.

The first work of art in the exhibition space is a photograph titled “Phantom-Limb” (C print, 148cm x 111cm, 5 photographs, created in 1997), [figure 1]. This is the work presented at his first solo exhibition.*1 A girl in white dress is lying with opened arms as if she is about to be risen to heaven. She holds a squashed red fruit of some sort in her hands. They look like wounds. It reminds me, from her pose and the wounds, of the image of framed Jesus Christ. Another work in the motif of Christianity is a video installation titled “Inferno” (video installation, synchronized 8 screen high vision video production, surround sound, 556cm x 610cm, 5 minutes 37 seconds, sound created by Kei Takashima, coproduction Stitch Mackley, 2008-2010), [figure 2] just like Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno.*2 Some of the sculpture serial “Hollow” also insinuate homage to the image of Virgin Mary. Interestingly, objects of faith and one of the major motifs in the Western art history are included harmoniously. It reminds me of the dress titled “Human Lesson (Dress 01)” (Wolf fur, 166.5cm x 78cm x 30cm, 1996) which has stuffed wolf heads for both arms that the wearer will put one's arms out of the wolves' mouthes .*3 There are works, at important points, that are derived from the history of art in both Western and Eastern.

On one hand, there are works that make us think that he is referring to Western contemporary art. “Dying Slave: Stella” (steel, paraffin and wax, 500cm x 180cm x 220cm, 2009-2010), [figure 4] for instance, is one of them. It is a huge skull made of white waxed paraffin papers stacked around a column radially. This column is brought down to a side with both ends propped by other columns. It rotates slowly.

fig. 5   “Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb” Installation view: Mori Art Museum, 2010/11/27-2011/2/27
Skeleton, 2003, FRP, et al., c. 390×φ55 cm, ISE Cultural Foundation, Tokyo, Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo Courtesy: Mori Art Museum

fig. 3   “Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb” Installation view: Mori Art Museum, 2010/11/27-2011/2/27
Human Lesson (Dress 01), 1996, Fur of wolf, et al., 166.5×78×30 cm, TAKAHASHI collection, Tokyo, Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo Courtesy: Mori Art Museum

A skull has been a symbol of death for a long time, but it may have a different meaning nowadays. I instantly remembered Damien Hirst's “For the Love of God.” It is a human skull recreated in platinum and adorned with 8601 diamonds. It was priced 50 million British pounds at an auction in 2007 which is the highest in modern art history. Its price was elevated by a various producing tactics, and that the selling process itself drew a lot of attention. It was a notable phenomenon in contemporary art world. “Skull” after Hirst might have become an icon with a new meaning. The diamonds that Hirst adorned his skull were said to be named after Greek word “adamas” which meant “unconquerable.” On the other hand, Odani's work was named after Michelangelo's “Dying Slave” (1513-1515). It is a week and submissive existence. This human skull, rotated as if it is toyed, is also made of carbon component like diamond. The size of this skull is overwhelming but it also looks very fragile as it is made of wax. It can be seen as a portrayal of enlarged bravado. I don't know what this artist really wanted to portray though. He has video works that are having no relationship with skull in the serial of the same title. But then, this work seems to overpower Hirst, or mock the pricing of works of art.*4

fig. 6  “Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb” Installation view: Mori Art Museum, 2010/11/27-2011/2/27, Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo Courtesy: Mori Art Museum

fig. 4  “Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb” Installation view: Mori Art Museum, 2010/11/27-2011/2/27, Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo Courtesy: Mori Art Museum

I went further down the exhibition room, and saw Odani's unique world. For example, there is a sculpture titled “Skelton” (FRP and other, 390cm x 55cm, 2003), [figure 5]. This work, is like plump wart-like white bubbles multiplicated and concatenated, is not put on a pedestal but is hung from the ceiling. It is interesting as it seems have a lot of weight but also gives a mysterious floating feeling. In the next exhibition room, there are figurative works that are simulated skeletons of fictional animals. Video works are interleaved among those and make the viewers keep attracted.

fig. 7  “Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb” Installation view: Mori Art Museum, 2010/11/27-2011/2/27, SP4: The Specter—What wanders around in every mind, 2009, FRP, cloth, horsehair, et al., 230×235×105 cm, Edition of 2, Collection of the artist, Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo Courtesy: Mori Art Museum

However, the works in the next world remind me of the history of art again. I came to a dimly lit room from a brightly lit floating feeling exhibition space. Pedestaled works are exhibited in this darkness. They seem to infer homage to past sculptures [figure 6]. Viewers will then realize how he perceives the history of Japanese sculpture. For instance, “SP4: The Spector-What wanders around in every mind” (2009), [figure 7] and “SP4: The Spectator-Arabesque woman with a heart” [figure 8] are formed in a way that a equesterian statue which was made in Meiji Era decayed and mummified. With the cultural enlightenment in Meiji Era, Japanese started learning Western sculpture by implementing a class of “The Sculpture as Western culture” at art schools. They used equesterian statues as example such as “Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (Piazza del Campidoglio). Those have been created in the West since Roman period. This work is based on the history.

This artist develops a serial titled “SP4”. He defines it as “Works that are the reinterpretation of Japanese contemporary carving, a field which was already dead but still living like zombies” (*5). It is interesting that he used the word “zombie.” For him, it has to be a dead but live zombie instead of a immobile mummy. The representational sculpture of equesterian statue which was born in the learning processes of Western culture exists as a root for sculptors even though it is not our own. Some of the works exhibited at group exhibitions already lost substance, and many of them are abstract these days. Nevertheless, students at art schools learn human body carving at first. The scariness of zombies could be that familiar existences suddenly transformed into the residents of a different world. Odani created a equesterian statue on pedestal and a nude female figure in his “SP4” serial. “I see all” (wood, natural mineral pigments, 436cm x 115cm x 125cm, 2010), [figure 9] is also put in this line. It is a statue of Buddhist image. They are defined as products of the past which were already separated from the present time. Contrastingly to the floating feeling sculptures I have seen so far, the sculptures here are sitting neatly on pedestals. “I see all” is placed at the end of this exhibition room and its woody pedestal is placed higher than viewer's height.

fig. 9   “Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb” Installation view: Mori Art Museum, 2010/11/27-2011/2/27, I See All, 2010, Wood, natural mineral pigment, et al., 436×115×125 cm, Collection of the artist, Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo Courtesy: Mori Art Museum

fig. 8   “Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb” Installation view: Mori Art Museum, 2010/11/27-2011/2/27, SP4: The Specter—Arabesque woman with a heart, 2009, FRP, et al., 198×60×55 cm, Edition of 3, TAKAHASHI collection, Tokyo, Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo Courtesy: Mori Art Museum

However, when viewers go into the last exhibition room, they will encounter a striking contrast. “Hollow” serials (FRP, urethan paint, mixed media, 2009-2010) are layers of curved thin plastic films made into women's heads and arms. I remembered “Skelton” that I saw previously and I flashed back to the works I had seen so far. These works, except for the equesterian statue, are hung from the ceiling or hung on the wall as if they stick out of the wall. That way, they are installed to exude floating feeling. The hung body of plastic films like a line of smoke does not seem to have weight. Nonetheless, interestingly it exists as a complete body. Around the human body motif, there is a flow of air as well as a concrete motif. In a way, he just not only tries to portray an object itself but also the air around it. The motifs of the sculptures that have been accumulated from the past are made into new existences with the floating feeling. I finally noticed when I compared the works with the ones in the previous exhibition room, that Odani's intension was to create a new wave based on the history of sculptures. Those floating “Skelton” and “Hollow” serial can be the new figures of carving that goes in the forefront of history.

fig. 10   “Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb” Installation view: Mori Art Museum, 2010/11/27-2011/2/27, Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo Courtesy: Mori Art Museum

As to exhibited works, I didn't see his works from his school days such as “Non Title” nor “Berenice” which he exhibited at Venice Biennnale, but still they are good enough to know this artist's overall picture. In early Meiji Era when there were no art galleries or museums, even though some people were trying to establish an art institution, exhibitions were perceived as freak shows. It can be fun to see the works in this exhibition as if you see a freak show of those days. You will find the scariness of something that can't be taken hold of.
(Translated by Yoshikazu Noda)


Notes:

(*1) “Phantom Limb” was held at P-House in Tokyo in 1997. “Phantom Limb” is a phenomenon that a person feels itch or pain in the body part even after one lost that part (arm or leg). For instance, soldiers who lost his arm or leg keep having that sensation.

(*2) This work can be taken an evolution of his “9th ROOM” (Video installation, 4 dvds, 4 video decks, 4 screens, mirros and 4 speakers. Size is 320cm x 320cm x 320cm. Duration 5 minutes 16 seconds. Sound was created by Kei Takashima) created in 2001. It is notable that Odani is conscious of large flow of art history as well as his past works.

(*3) You will find Zosho Tenryuzo, Kaidan-in, Tōdai-ji in page 38 of the figure list of this exhibition as a reference for this work.

(*4) It may have an image of “adipocere” as skull is a symbol of death, and wax is used as a material. “Adipocere” a waxy substance produced by the decomposition of dead animal bodies. The “hands or glory” used in witchcraft is an adipocere arm of a man who was executed because of death penalty. They are used in place of candles in rituals or a good luck charm. It may have a relationship with phantom limb.

(*5) Quoted from page 106 of the figure list of this exhibition. According to Yoshitsugu Mori , “Japanese contemporary carving was formed with a strong influence from Western counterpart. Odani's purpose was to expose the darkness of the contradictory human body representation.” (page 116).


Reffered exhibition:

"Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb" held at MORI ART MUSEUM, November 27, 2010 - February 27, 2011

Last Updated on April 26 2018
 

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