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Tatsuo KAWAGUCHI: Language, Time, Life
Reviews
Written by Satoshi KOGANEZAWA   
Published: November 09 2009

     There are a number of boxes displayed orderly. Each of the boxes contains darkness. One darkness has been kept in its box since 1975. Therefore, probably it can also be said that the year 1975 has been kept in the box. Nevertheless, as soon as the box is opened, the darkness is exposed to the light and has nowhere to go. Then the time comes to converge on the present so rapidly that we cannot look inside the box. Indeed, we can peek into the box if we open it, but at that moment, its darkness disappears. The nature of this darkness is ensured as long as it is kept in the box.

fig. 1 ”DARK BOX" (1975); photo by Sadamu SAITO, courtesy of the artist and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

fig. 2 “Navigation across Time” (2009); wooden ship/seed [lotus]/beeswax/copper wire/copper pipe/pigment, 188.0cm×833.0cm×235.0cm [hull], photo by Sadamu SAITO, courtesy of the artist and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

     This is the reason these boxes made me feel as if they are caskets. I would like to consider the creation entitled “DARK BOX” (1975-) [fig. 1], which we encounter first in the venue, as a funeral of the “dead” - the darkness - which can never be conducted in sight. Based on this thought, I have reached the conclusion that this solo exhibition of Tatsuo Kawaguchi at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, composed of three sections named “Language”, “Time” and “Life”, respectively, seems to be organized under the consecutive theme of a stream from death to life. There is a similarity between “Time” and “Life” in that they change from time to time but nonetheless still have an irreversible nature. We can neither slip from a time axis nor get younger. Therefore, it is necessary for us to cut off “Time” at a certain point and entomb “Life” in order to consider the essence of “Time” and “Life”. In other words, we, the viewers, can glimpse the essential quality of “Time” and “Life” only after they are reset once and the moment of resetting is presented to us.

     Assuming that the creation first above written, “DARK BOX”, is an example of works which represent death, “Navigation across Time” (wooden ship/seed [lotus]/beeswax/copper wire/copper pipe/pigment/188.0cm×833.0cm×235.0cm [hull], 2009) [fig. 2] and “Carousel to Pegasus” (wood/ seed [lotus]/beeswax/copper wire/copper pipe/pigment/feather duster/lead, 70.0cm×115.0cm×155.0cm, 2009), which was displayed on the “Navigation across Time”, can be said to symbolize life.

     These two works give us an intense impression in their colorings which cannot be found in any other creations shown in this exhibition. This shows that these two pieces represent the energies of life straightforwardly. Lotus seeds have been attached all over the surface of the wooden ship which was painted all yellow using copper wires. The two works are displayed in the last exhibition room. Therefore, in this room, viewers would definitely recall that lotus seeds were also used in other exhibits. In addition, these two works would remind them of other creations shown in this exhibition which were created embedding lotus seeds as well as those of many other plants in lead.

     Here, my feelings were as follows. I could not find any positive factor for life in all these exhibits, excluding “Navigation across Time” and “Carousel to Pegasus”. In fact, Kawaguchi selected lead as one of the materials for his works because of the nature of lead which stops radiation, but, regardless of such a social message which he intended to convey to viewers, seeds of plants have been deprived of their nature as creatures while being protected from others since they are covered with lead. As with the “DARK BOX”, “Seven Thousand Grains of Life” (lead/7,000 grains of seeds [lotus] ,variable, 2009) which expresses a solemn image by utilizing the color of lead and is displayed in an orderly fashion, makes me imagine a funeral. Is this due to my excessive negativity? Maybe not. Nevertheless, Kawaguchi’s creations absolutely contain “death” as well. This would be the reason why “Navigation across Time” heads for “life” and “Carousel to Pegasus” plays a redemptive role as in the last exhibition room.

     I would like to regard this exhibition as one creation in whole. Indeed, the exhibition successfully introduces no less than 149 of Kawaguchi’s works in detail through its three sections. This reflects exactly the same thing to be seen in the fact that our bodies themselves are made up of various kinds of parts. Viewing the exhibits from the perspective of following a stream flowing from “death” to “life”, we may recognize that Kawaguchi’s creations express “death”. This is something we are all forced to experience in our lives. These works lead us to ponder “thinking” which is feasible only while we are living. Throughout this exhibition, Kawaguchi presents us with the world which is not easily understandable but is still profound.
(Translated by Nozomi Nakayama)

Last Updated on November 02 2015
 

Editor's Note by Satoshi KOGANEZAWA


It is difficult for us to grasp easily what Kawaguchi intended to convey us through his creations. In addition, it is still not easy to understand most of them even though we look at them closely. Nonetheless, you need not underestimate yourself in that you cannot construe his message included in the exhibits (because nobody would be able to understand them readily). Kawaguchi suggests us to delve deeper into our thinking by taking advantage of the “unintelligibility” of his works. As shown in the title, the themes of this exhibition are “language”, “time” and “life”. Needless to say, all these things are inseparably-linked to our “life”. Not only looking at Kawaguchi’s creations but confronting them must be the same thing as thinking about the profundity of this world ourselves. Just as it is difficult for us to understand the complexity of the world, Kawaguchi’s works do not allow us to grasp them easily. But this would be the reason his creations often give us a faithful impression. Let me give you some advices before you enjoy the exhibits. The floor guide which you can get at the entrance of the venue will provide you with polite explanations about the exhibits which were written by the curator in charge of this exhibition. Besides this, in the catalogue of this exhibition, there are Kawaguchi’s statements as well as two essays in which you can find more detailed descriptions than those written in the floor guide. I recommend you to refer to the above-mentioned information together with the description panels which are displayed in each exhibition room and the caption of each work. (Translated by Nozomi Nakayama)


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