Lichtenstein, A Retrospective

Roy Lichtenstein, Whaam!,1963, Tate. © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/DACS 2012

On February 21 a retrospective exhibition opened at Tate Modern, of Roy Lichtenstein, one of the central figures of American Pop Art. It is the first large-scale retrospective exhibition of his work since Lichtenstein passed away in 1997 at the age of seventy-three. With the collection of one hundred and twenty-five works from his early days to his late years, it becomes possible to look back over Lichtenstein’s paintings and the borderline they balance between art and mass culture. Lichtenstein is known for his work in which he enlarges single panels from comics. His active years, the 1960s, are the period in which Andy Warhol and his factory first drew from mass media and surrounding urban settings, as well as mass media and the world of commercials, to start producing work.

Roy Lichtenstein, Oh, Jeff…I Love You, Too…But…, 1964, 

Collection Simonyi © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/DACS 2012

In 1962, Lichtenstein displayed shocking work at Leo Castelli gallery in New York, that overthrew the noble image of art that people had. This work was a painting named “Look, Mickey”. It was the famous Disney characters Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, in a painting. The characteristics of comic books, such as the emphasized lines and simple coloring, had been reproduced in oil paints to paint these cartoon characters on an enormous canvas. Lichtenstein had transformed the mass-produced, widely circulated printed matter of the cartoon illustration, into a work of art.
Due to its motifs and his manner of painting, his work is often mistaken as simply the enlargement of a piece of printed matter. But is that really all?



For instance, let’s take a look at one of his most important pieces, “Whaam!” This painting is a panel from a comic about a fighter pilot, “Star Jocky”, published in 1962 in the compilation “All American Men of War”. If we compare it to the scene from the comic that inspired it: the background has been eliminated, the lines and coloring have been cleaned up, and the image has been reshaped into a composition with all the more impact. When viewed up close, the dot matrix used by printed matter is visible, but when studied more closely, we see that the precisely arranged dots have not been produced mechanically, but are entirely hand-painted. Although Lichtenstein’s motifs drew from mass-produced printed matter, because he allowed for alteration and hand-painted everything, his works became unique paintings.


 The retrospective also features works that are not nearly so well-known, such as paintings of female nudes, and his landscapes in the Chinese style. His series of paintings, Art History, which recreates artworks in Lichtenstein’s own style, seems to hurtle a challenge at modern art’s views on originality. This retrospective exhibition provides us with a wonderful opportunity to know the many different sides to Roy Lichtenstein.

The exhibition Lichtenstein: A Retrospective will be open from 21 February to 27 May at Tate Modern (open all days).

Tate Modern

Bankside London SE1 9TG United Kingdom http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern

Opening times:

Sun - Thurs 10:00 - 18:00, Fri & Sat 10:00 - 22:00

Dalí the Genius -Centre Pompidou

The expression of his unique view of the world; the eccentric appearance characterised by his long moustache; his presence in the tales of numerous scandals -it is none other than the twentieth-century artist Salvador Dalí. At present, a large scale retrospective is open at Centre Pompidou in Paris. It features not only paintings, sketches, and sculptural work, but also photographs, film, and the television program in which Dalí appeared, in a total of two hundred works.

Among his numerous masterpieces, there is “The Persistence of Memory” (also frequently called “Melting Clocks”). This piece, painted in a superior technique, gives us a world in which reality and dream are strangely intertwined. Although one of the most famous of Dali’s work, when it is before your eyes it is shockingly small - a mere 24 x 33 centimeters. On this small canvas, with the seashore by the Porto Rigato, where Dali’s atelier was located, for the background, Dali’s face is delivered to us like a piece of meat beside these impossible, limp clocks. The long eyelashes make you think of an insect that might start to move at any moment. The piece / Dali’s view on paintings becomes plainly visible: ‘paintings are hand-drawn photographs made of the world generally imagined as a tangible illogicality.’

The second half of the exhibition does its best to carry you even deeper into Dali’s world: an installation inspired by the American actress Mae West. This work is her portrait - a chair in the shape of lips, furniture in the shape of a nose, curtains which look like hair, and so on - a room remodeled to a sculpture. Here viewers literally step inside the work, and can even photograph themselves inside.

After seeing Dali’s original work even once, it sticks in your memory; his eccentric appearance, too, makes an intense impression on people. It’s possible that his long, pointy moustache and his peculiar face are even more famous than his work. Dali excelled at self-production, called himself a genius, behaved in ways that departed from common sense, and constantly provided the topic for newspapers, television and other media. Among so many artists who despised commercial works and show business, Dali’s enthusiastic exposure towards media drew much attention and played a great part in establishing his fame. However, do we really believe in this ‘genius’ that he created?

At this exhibition the ‘genius’ image Dali created is questioned, but his work courteously visited, to attempt to throw into relief the essential form of Dali.

The Dali exhibitionis open until March 25th. (Museum is closed on Tuesdays).

Centre Pompidou

19 Rue Beaubourg
75004 Paris
France
http://www.centrepompidou.fr/en

Opening Times:

11:00-23:00　 Closed on Tuesday

The Road to Van Eyck opens in Rotterdam

Jan van Eyck, The Three Marys at the Tomb, c. 1430-1435. Panel, 71.5 x 90 cm.

The exhibition “The Road to Van Eyck” centering on 15th century Dutch painting has opened at the Boijmans van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam. On view are over ninety works by Jan van Eyck, the perfector of oil-painting technique, and his contemporaries. Never before has such a number of works been gathered in one place as this; and since many of the old works have become very fragile, the chances of ever recreating the same scale of exhibition seem slim.

At the time Jan van Eyck was active as a painter, a period in which artists were creating works all across Europe, and the centres of trade -Amsterdam, Cologne, and so on- not only completed trade transactions but also moved these works of art across national borders. In the midst of all this, Van Eyck studied the works of numerous artists, polishing his skills until he achieved his superior power of expression. Work created by him was met with the highest praise, and continued to influence many painters after him.

Jan van Eyck, The Annunciation, c. 1430-1435.
Oak, transferred on to canvas in St Petersburg
after 1864,  92.7 x 36.7 cm.
Washington DC, National Gallery of Art,
Andrew W. Mellon Collection

In this exhibition, multiple precious works by Van Eyck are on display. In the Turin-Milan Hours we see the culmination of Van Eyck’s earliest work, the minute depictions of which invite the viewer to anticipate his future work. In The Annunciation, the scene of the visit by the archangel Gabriel to the Holy Mother Mary, to announce to her that she is carrying the child of God, has been painted in extravagant colors and delicate brush strokes. Gabriel’s rainbow-colored wings and magnificent robe, the complicated structure of the church interior and the decoration of the floor, all have been expressed to an abundant tactility, by an overwhelming power of depiction.

The painting, The Three Marys at the Tomb which Boijmans van Beuningen possesses, had long been thought to be a work by Van Eyck older brother Hubert; however, there has been contention that it is in fact Jan van Eyck’s work, and it is as of yet a topic on which specialists remain divided. Both Hubert and Jan worked on what would become known as the masterpiece of Ghent: Saint Bavo Cathedral’s altarpiece, the polyptych Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. On an inscription on a frame, discovered during an 1823 restoration of the altarpiece, Hubert was designated as maior quo nemo repertus (greater than anyone) and Jan as arte secundus (second best in the art). At present, however, there are neither any works nor records which are reliably connected to Hubert. The painting The Three Marys at the Tomb is one of a few essential clues left through which we might know the enigmatic painter Hubert.

The Three Marys at the Tomb was restored for the exhibition, and its vivid colors and delicate expression are now more clearly present than before; the restoration process has been made public and is viewable on the Boijmans website. Furthermore, restoration work started on Gent’s Altarpiece on October 2nd, 2012. Although restoration should take five years, only a few panels are to be restored at a time, which means that every panel apart from those being currently restored will be on display at Saint Bavo Cathedral in Gent.

The Road to Van Eyck is open until February 10th. The museum is closed on Mondays, Christmas and New Year’s Day.)

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Museumpark 18-20
3015 CX Rotterdam
the Netherlands
http://www.boijmans.nl

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Sunday, 11:00-17:00
Closed on Mondays (except Easter Monday and Whitmonday), 1 January, 30 April (Queensday) and 25 December.

Special issue: In 2013, a second exhibition on Mucha will open, with full support from the Mucha foundation! Keep your eyes peeled!

From March 2013, The exhibition “Alphonse Mucha: An Insight into the Artist” organized by NTV will open in five different places throughout Japan.

Although the Mucha exhibition organized by NTV, first opened under the full support of the foundation between 2004 and 2006, it will be renovated to a structure suitable for the second opening. Basing itself on the key concept “The Hidden Mucha”, the exhibition will introduce not only his works, but will also focus on the heretofore unknown philosophy, ideology, and prayers of Mucha himself.


Tokyo
From Saturday, March 9 - Sunday, May 19, 2013
Mori Arts Center Gallery (Roppongi Hills, Mori Tower, 52nd floor)


Niigata
From Saturday, June 1, to Sunday August 11, 2013
The Niigata Bandaijima Art Museum

Matsuyama
From Saturday, October 26, 2013, to Sunday, January 5, 2014
The Museum of Art, Ehime

Sendai
From Saturday January 18, to Sunday, March 23, 2014
The Miyagi Museum

Sapporo
From Saturday, April 5, to Sunday June 15, 2014
Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art



*For more details and information on buying tickets, please visit the official website of the Mucha exhibition. http://www.ntv.co.jp/mucha/

Seeing the Samurai Exhibition in Rotterdam

Rotterdam boasts the Netherlands’ second largest infrastructure and is said to have the most extensive harbor in the world in terms of transactions. It is known for the Boijmans van Beuningen museum, which has a famous collection, and for the Kunsthal, which, while it does not have its own collection, shows consecutive, well-polished exhibitions (and now, of course, known for the recent large-scale art theft, as well..). The city center that was brought down by bombs in the war is represented now by architectural works spearheaded in that period; the first of which were the Cube houses.

At some distance from the city center and the harbor, is the World Museum. Rather than one of Rotterdam’s modern pieces of architecture, it is a traditional Dutch building which was restored and re-released in 2009 as a museum. The World Museum offers a collection made up of roughly two thousand objects from Asia and Oceania, relating mainly to religion.

It is here that an exhibition has opened which is gathering much attention in the Netherlands. The exhibition’s title is “SAMURAI”. Although it is an exhibition on Japanese weapons and armor, it approaches the concept of Bushi, from a different side, represented by the samurai’s manner of doing battle, and considers on its reverse the zen-guided mental world, stepping into the unique culture that was born from this in an ambitious manner. Besides the suits of armor, helmets, swords, banners, and battle emblems, there is an overwhelming collection of as many as three hundred objects: Nō masks representing the art of Nō, loved by the military commanders; a number of ukiyoe prints of the warriors; folding screens upon which scenes of battle are depicted. Especially the room in which the suits of armor and helmets have been so arranged as to give the impression of military commanders holding a strategy meeting, and the room exhibiting just the collection of helmets, make the exhibition a pleasure to behold.

In the Netherlands, where the Japanese-Dutch friendship now spans more than four hundred years, a large amount of Japanese objects are kept at Leiden’s Siebold collection or the National Museum of Ethnology, but for this exhibition most of the armor and helmets were provided by Florence’s Stibbert Collection. At the end of the eighteenth century, the East India Company’s governor-general of the Bengal area, Giles Stibbert had amassed a fortune, and his grandson Frederick put together his massive inheritance to turn his own villa into a museum. After Frederick’s death, the collection was donated to Florence, and although currently open to the general public, its location at the outskirts of Florence is perhaps disadvantageous, and apparently the collection is not visited much.

Despite many of Japan’s helmets and suits of armor having been lost to foreign countries, I am happy that, thanks to collectors such as this, Japanese people have the chance to see these pieces again. Most of the armor and weapons still in Japan have been passed on generation upon generation as the daimyō’s possessions; but the armor on display at this exhibition is, rather than a lord’s possessions, mostly those of the higher and lower classes of warriors. In the Edo period warriors’ lives grew difficult, as if in compensation for enjoying peace, and when the suits of armor which had been passed down for generations were sacrificed for the sake of daily survival, the family crests and old names were erased from them. It is because of this that we still do not know who the original owners were. Might, someday, these suits of armor come home to Japan?

One last thing: the sword and folding screen gifted to the Dutch king Willem the Third by the Tokugawa shogunate, as well as the missive giving notice of permission to establish trade with the Dutch, despite Japan’s being already totally isolated, are items in the exhibition which one truly does not often have the chance to see; they form a true centerpiece to the exhibition.
Rotterdam’s “SAMURAI” exhibition will be open until the 24th of March 2013 (the museum is closed on Mondays).

Wereldmuseum

Willemskade 22-25
3016 DM Rotterdam
the Netherlands
http://www.wereldmuseum.nl

Opening times:

Tuesday through Sunday 10:30-17:30
Closed every Monday, and on 1 January, 30 April and 25 December

TODAYSART2012

TodaysArt is an annual Media Art festival that has taken place in the Dutch city the Hague every autumn since 2005. The festival features audiovisual and modern dance performances, concerts, clubbing, installations, and art exhibitions at the city centre’s two theatres, cinema, and the neighbouring buildings of the city hall. This year’s festival, the eighth one running, opened on the night of September 21st with a speech by its director Olof van Winden and a variety of performances. This year NTV Europe, which is based in Amsterdam, and has been supporting art projects over a period of twenty years, participated for the first time in the capacity of a trial collaboration. Through this, the up-and-coming Japanese artists Ei Wada and Ryoichi Kurokawa were welcomed to the festival, and gave their performances in a grand way.

At the centre of the four main venues was built what should be called a monument, put together out of old furniture and other discarded items found in the city: the Vortex of the Raumlaborberlin. On the inside, space was opened up wide to create a dance floor, and the Vortex seems to just fold itself over its visitors, and like a black hole, suck them in. The work is supposed to represent the state of consumer society. Since this venue was set up outside, it was also accessible to the general public who did not have tickets to the festival.

On the night of the 21st, Ryoichi Kurokawa’s “syn_” was performed in the grand hall of the Lucent Danstheater, one of the main venues of the festival; a delicate combination of digital animation and sound that created the image of countless thin lines interweaving.

This black-and-white contrast was impressive also because of Ei Wada’s Braun Tube Jazz Band. In this performance Wada projects sounds, “altered” into images, on twelve Braun TVs, which he strikes and strokes as if playing percussion, creating music.

syn_ by Ryoichi Kurokawa

Braun Tube Jazz Band by Ei Wada

Afer the Braun Tube Jazz Band on the second day, he performed in the Open Reel Ensemble together with Kimitoshi Sato, Takumi Namba, Haruka Yoshida, and Masaru Yoshida. While using the particular character of open reel tape decks, the ensemble recorded the crowd and directly used the material like disc jockeys during this performance, driving the entire sold-out hall wild.

Open Reel Ensemble

Directly beside the Lucent Danstheater is The Hague’s City Hall with its characteristic high-ceilinged atrium and white walls. It was here that a 500 square-metre space was brought to life with 65,000 unsold or discarded CDs put together by hand to create a sandy beach landscape: “Waste Landscape” by Elise Morin and Clémence Eliard. In its centre, the performance “Inneract”, featuring harp, electronics, and visuals. Taking the famous Dutch minimal music composer, Simeon Ten Holt’s “canto ostinato” as a starting point, this improv rendition lasted anywhere from forty-five minutes up to several hours. Visitors were able to enjoy the show from the venue’s upstairs passages and the elevator.

Electricity is indispensable for media art. It is very interesting that the building that supplied electricity, was treated as part of this year’s TodaysArt. At the old power plant building, a short distance from the central venues, in an enormous room, was a group exhibition which took its name from Nam Jun Paik’s artwork “Global Groove”; elsewhere was an exhibition of Turkish media art “Commons Tense”. In the “Global Groove” exhibition, the work “Ideophone 1:36” by Dick Raaijmakers (one of the founders and godparents of electronic music, and of great influence in the development of young people in the Hague), the sound created by the vibration of the speakers making metal spheres jump up, had a delightful ring in that great old power plant. Here, the work of celebrated, masterful artists was on display together with the work of young artists ready to take on the next generation.

The exhibition venue

The theme of TodaysArt 2012 was “the Search and Longing for the Undiscovered”. The sense that especially now in this time of change, an artist can go back to their own roots and treat old things preciously, while still creating novel and radical works, could be perceived in a variety of works. This message and accomplishment was summarized at the opening on the second day with the work “Elements of Light” by The Bell Laboratory and Pantha Du Prince, which made use of countless bells, and which closed with a magnificent standing ovation.

TODAYSART 2012

21+22 Sept the Hague

An audiovisual summary of the 8th edition of the TodaysArt Festival

http://todaysart.org/2012/
http://todaysart.org/2012/news-item/ntve-todaysart-japanese-program/

NTV Europe supports TodaysArt Festival

TodaysArt Festival, which took place for the first time in the Hague in 2005, is now entering its eighth year. This year’s festival, featuring spirited artists and researchers from around the world, will open on the 21st and 22nd of September at various spaces throughout the Hague. As a globally cutting edge, provocative art festival, it will not only showcase conventional art forms, but also actively introduce music, dance, and technology as art.
Furthermore, this year brings a new match: NTV Europe joins as a presenting partner, and has succeeded particularly in putting together Japan’s corner. As the first try, we introduce the musician Wada Ei’s Braun Tube Jazz Band and his Open Reel Ensemble, and look forward to drawing much notice.

By joining hands with TodaysArt Festival, NTV Europe hopes to achieve development in the relationship between Japan and the Netherlands in their respective fields of art and culture, and at the same time to spread not only to artists and specialists, but also to regular people, a high-quality program on the spearhead that is contemporary art.

Performance schedule:

Braun Tube Brass Band
Ei Wada
September 21st (Fri)
21.15 - 21.45
In the Foyer of the Theater aan het Spui


syn_
Ryoichi Kurokawa
September 21st (Fri)
22.45 - 23.30
at Lucent Danstheater


Open Reel Ensemble
Ei Wada, Kimitoshi Sato, Haruka, Takumi Namba, Yoshida, Masaru Yoshida
September 22nd (Sat)
21.00 - 22.00
In the Small Room of the Theater aan het Spui

*For details, please view the festival’s homepage.

TODAYSART 2012

http://todaysart.org/2012/
http://todaysart.org/2012/news-item/ntve-todaysart-japanese-program/

21+22 Sept the Hague