Take Ninagawa is proud to announce the opening of multimedia artist Chikara Matsumoto’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, “That which illuminates the end, vol. 1.” The exhibition will include a new hand-drawn animation, original drawings and a sculpture.
Matsumoto is known for making hand-drawn animations that combine animistic imagery with experimental soundtracks. To make his animations, he divides a sheet of B5 paper into 32 frames each containing miniature drawings. He then photographs and enlarges the drawings before looping them together in a reel. The result is that the animations are as much about the distortion of information as they are about conveying sequences of images, with individual lines and the visual noise of the original drawings taking on randomly determined significance in the finished work.
Making its premiere in this exhibition, That which illuminates the end, vol. 1 (2010) is the first part of what will eventually be an 80-minute long feature-length animation. The completed work will revolve around the 40 minutes preceding and following a catastrophic “zero event.” A surreal, trance-like meditation on nonlinear time, the animation’s narrative includes ant-shaped UFOs that have come from across the galaxy to witness the zero event, a comatose boy and his giant robot, and a pair of mermaids who have been searching for each other over several centuries. Additionally, the work considers the relationships between perception and reality, individual and community, inside and outside.
That which illuminates the end, vol. 1 features the arrival of the ant-shaped UFOs to Earth. Differing from Matsumoto’s previous animations, it also incorporates large-format drawings, which the artist usually makes as studies before beginning work on his animations. Integrated into the body of the animation, these drawings add to the work shifts in scale and detail. These and other drawings will also be displayed in the gallery space. Also on display will be a sculpture—made from everyday materials—that evokes a miniature cosmos that viewers can pick up and explore with their hands.
Chikara Matsumoto
Born in 1967, Chikara Matsumoto has exhibited his work extensively in Japan and abroad. He has been featured in exhibitions and screening programs including “KITA! Japanese Artists Meet Indonesia” (2008, Japan Foundation); “Out of the Ordinary” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Centre A, Vancouver (2007); “Japanese Video Art” at the Henie Onstad Art Centre, Oslo (2007); and “EIJANAIKA! YES FUTURE!” at Collection Lambert, Avignon (2004).
* The text provided by Take Ninagawa.