Shusaku Arakawa “Reading Cylinders”
Information
- Number of items exhibited
- 9
- Period
- April 11 (Tues.) to July 1 (Sat.), 2023
- Closed
- 2nd and 4th Saturdays, Sundays, holidays; also closed April 29–May 7, 2023
- Admission
- Free
- Event
- Gallery Talk by museum curator
(advance reservations unnecessary)
April 15 (Sat.) and June 17 (Sat.)
Time (both days): 2:30-3:00 p.m.
Visitors interested in hearing the talk are asked to gather in the exhibition hall.
The schedule may change depending on coronavirus-related or other conditions, so please check the Gi-Co-Ma website or official Twitter site before visiting.
About the Exhibition
Nagoya-born artist Arakawa Shusaku’s international reputation was established with the work that culminated in the book The Mechanism of Meaning (1970) which encouraged viewers to experiment with meaning and perception. While continuing that series of works, Arakawa’s later works express his thinking in the form of diagrams (diagrammatic paintings). The geometric motifs of his work were meant to be “read,” using color, line, and form as if they were ordinary “words,” and he repeatedly used the cylinder as a central motif.
Arakawa rarely explained how to read his works, but he later spoke on many occasions about the ideas that developed through the production of his works. In this exhibition, we will attempt to read print works from the 1970s onward, when the cylinders appeared, using as clues the words of artists Arakawa drew on as the forerunners of his own ideas.
《The Signified or If No.1》1975-1976
© 2016 Estate of Madeline Gins. Reproduced with permission of the Estate of Madeline Gins.
《Tomb of Chance No.2》1974-1981
© 2020 Estate of Madeline Gins. Reproduced with permission of the Estate of Madeline Gins.
《That in Which No.1》1978
© 2020 Estate of Madeline Gins. Reproduced with permission of the Estate of Madeline Gins.
《The Signified or If No.2》1975-1976
© 2016 Estate of Madeline Gins. Reproduced with permission of the Estate of Madeline Gins.