Set to celebrate its first anniversary in January
2007, Yuka Sasahara Gallery is one of the youngest
in a recently expanding group of "second generation"
Tokyo-based contemporary gallery spaces. At 34,
owner Yuka Sasahara is herself rather young; however,
Sasahara is a seasoned veteran of the Tokyo art
world. Intimately involved for nearly ten years,
Sasahara previously worked with both the venerable
Taka Ishii Gallery and an early and subsequent Roppongi
incarnation of Roentgenwerke, a space in which she
worked alongside Zenshi Mikami, himself now an independent
(Mikami presently runs his own space, Zenshi), and
in which she had an opportunity to refine her curatorial
practice.
Located in Kagurazaka, Sasahara's gallery is conveniently
situated next door to a complex of galleries including
the Tokyo branch of Osaka-based Kodama Gallery,
former SCAI the Bathhouse director Yuko Yamamoto's
Yamamoto Gendai, and the private collection viewing
room Takahashi Collection. Sasahara's gallery is
defined by a willingness to support artists working
in new and unconventional manifestations of traditional
media. This adventurousness was made clear at the
outset, when viewers were confronted with the gallery
debut exhibition, iconoclast Iichiro Tanaka's multimedia
installation "Classic Karaoke 2006," a
blaring interactive piece which allowed visitors
to "sing" along to the classics. Equally
bold was Sasahara's presentation of artist Yosuke
Amemiya's "Translator's High," an installation
incorporating both sculpture and film, the real
and the fictive; the film self-reflectively pictured
the exhibition space at an earlier time, while the
sculpture included painted FRP and found objects.
Presently on view in the gallery is an untitled
exhibition including a selection of recent works
on paper and sculpture by gallery artists. The show
makes for a wonderful introduction to the Sasahara
Gallery aesthetic and presents a small but engaging
group of work.
Immediately eye-catching is artist Katsuhito Yamamoto's
brightly colored work of colored pencil on paper,
"Kokoro gokoro." "Kokoro gokoro"
marks a departure of sorts for Yamamoto, already
known for his similarly vibrant sculptural works
in which colored paper is collaged and affixed at
a slight distance from a panel support. Where Yamamoto's
previous works suggest a charmingly naive, scaled-down
version of late Frank Stella, the work presently
on view benefits from the restraint inherent in
drawing. Limiting himself to presenting a series
of patterns, Yamamoto creates a work full of tension
that successfully demonstrates the power of imagination.
In contrast, a pair of paintings by Ryosuke Hara
offers a sober, reflective consideration of painted
space. The melancholic "Pluto" draws upon
current events -- the de-planetization of Pluto
-- to present a precious portrait of loss. Hara's
incorporation of a small number of tiny, carefully
placed rhinestones within the composition further
reinforces a gentle sense of wonder. An additional
larger painting presents what appears to be a multiple
self-portrait of the artist in an equally confused,
yet less awestruck state. Wandering through a forest-like
landscape, the painted figure seems engaged in an
unnamed search or process.
Saori Miyake's genre-defying "Light„Vanish/kick"
appears to be a black and white ink drawing of the
tail end of a confrontation, but further examination
reveals the work and others in this series to be
gelatin silver prints -- equally self-reflexive
and narrative. Lastly, we are again faced, quite
literally, with the work of Iichiro Tanaka. His
"Drop-eyed Daruma" presents a humorous,
cautionary view of good fortune as the Daruma's
painted eyes -- a sign of fulfillment -- have fallen
from its face, leaving a set of voids on the gallery
floor. At once whimsical and serious, "Daruma"
is a fitting point at which to end viewing and begin
consideration of the implications of that which
has been seen.
On view through the winter season, this group exhibition
presents a lively introduction to one of Tokyo's
most promising young gallery spaces.
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