MINORU SINZOW Show

Minnano gallery is pleased to announce the opening of "MINORU SINZOW Show".
Minoru Sasaki is in charge of planning and general curation for this exhibition.
We do hope your visiting.
　
MINORU SINZOW Show　
2018 . 12 . 1 (Sat) ---- 12 . 23 (Sun)
13:00 - 19:00
Closed : Mon, Tue, Wed​
　　
※12. 1 (Sat) Reception Party 18:00-20:00
※12. 2 (Sun) Talk Show 15:00-16:30
※12.23 (Sun) Last Day Open 13:00-17:00
　
　
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MINORU SINZOW Show is a project to unit two artists: Minoru Sasaki (myself) and SINZOW for a duo exhibition.
　
Both of us have great respect for each other’s art but did not have any significant interaction before. The director of Minnano Gallery gave us one whole year to discover each other, to prepare for the show together. Also, he had the generosity to give carte blanche to me in order that I can take charge of the direction of the show as well.
　
At the beginning, neither the artists nor the director of the gallery had precise idea about what kind of exhibition it would be. All of us were completely new to this type of project, so that we decided not to anticipate too much in order to explore the entire process with a flexible mind.
　
SINZOW and I started e-mail dialogues. We exchanged words, talked about interests or sources of inspiration which each of us had at the moment. We had an idea: it would be nice if we could built our exhibition on this stimulating exchange, with new works we would create on the basis of our discussions.
　
War, terrorism, rituals, human body’s ability to self-heal, healing power of touch, heartache we feel... and mental disorders which secretly harm both of us from time to time. The e-dialogues covered a variety of subjects. Both of us truly appreciated the heart to heart communication. At the end, we desired to reveal ourselves more, by showing past idea notes and preparatory sketches to each other.
　
The e-dialogues allowed us to realise that we have a similarity in the process of creation. We start with observing how we are involved in our surroundings or in the world, microscopically as well as macroscopically, so as to capture problematics, no matter whether they concern social issues or our daily life; after that, we tend to work the problematics out to find our own answers or impressions, and to convey them to the public with our entire soul. Needless to say, it is through our art. In other words, the process of the creation is, for us, a challenge to answer the question: who am I?
　
We have another point in common: we give the priority to our instinctive flashes or intuitions we may have at the moment of creation and do not hesitate to modify the initial plans, even if they are well elaborated, because this is how the creation can reflect our entire existence.
　
After several months of e-dialogues, we stopped the exchange as to work alone. The mutual discovery was a wonderful outcome but we needed to be alone to face up to the world better.
　
In this exhibition, we will organize the space with our new works which are the ‘fruits’ of our exchange, as well as with the past works which we would like to take up as they seem related to the subjects we discussed in the e-dialogues.
　
We cordially invite you all to discover the fruitfulness of our exchange.
　
Minoru Sasaki
　
　
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Minoru Sasaki
　
Language. Words. Characters. Minoru Sasaki’s creation starts over there. It may sometimes start somewhere else, but anyway he will come over there, again and again. That is his spring of inspiration which he needs to dig into to create.
　
Why? It is perhaps because his very first unforgettable creative experience in his childhood was calligraphy; when he drew words/characters, he felt as if he was ‘experiencing the whole world’ or ‘realising self-fulfilment’, he says. He repeatedly had that feelings, which marked him much. Also, it may be because he lived abroad for a long period, and his daily life in that time was like speaking several languages at one time (and failing in it), so that he had great interests in observing the very moment when he shares (and fails in sharing) meanings which are about to be generated with others.
　
His drawings represent words/characters. That is what he does and you see that. But you can also find elements which considerably deviate or escape from their original figures. In addition, the support is sometimes torn or deformed.
　
Why? It is perhaps because when meanings are about to be generated, they will not be delivered alone, but also the energy needed to generate meanings will be notably dispersed around; besides, when they did not succeeded in get generated out and are going to disappear, their fragments will make significant vortexes before vanishing entirely. Minoru Sasaki lets himself be captured by that energy and vortexes, despite the risk to get the meanings withdrawn.
　
Something which makes life convenient, something necessary, but something painful. Is it what meaning represents for Minoru Sasaki? Is it a restraint? Presumably he glimpses freedom at the moment that he gets liberated from meanings. Nevertheless, his does not stop creating works with something related to meanings. Is it because one can not live without them after all?
　
Lately, Minoru Sasaki has been working at serial series of drawings which consist of one and only katakana, like ‘Forced into hi’ and ‘i Fulfilling’. But a katakana itself does not represent a meaning but a sound; For example, the katakana イ, which Sasaki uses in ‘i Fulfilling’, indicates the i-sound but does not contain meaning in the character itself unlike a kanji. So, are there meanings in Sasaki’s katakana works? If so, how?
　
　
Born in Morioka, Japan, in 1969.
　
Solo Exhibitions (extract):
Gallery Muramatsu (Tokyo), Comptoir des écritures (Paris), Sakyukan (Niigata), NIIGATA EYA (Niigata), OGU MAG (Tokyo), Cyg art gallery (Morioka), Morikyu Gallery (Morioka).
　
Art Festivals and Art Fairs:
Art Gent (Ghent).
　
Public Collection:
Mandala Garden, Tateyama Museum of Toyama (permanent installation).
　
Awards and Recognitions:
2011: Iwate's Artist of the Year.
　
1999: Pola Art Foundation Grant (for study and creation in Paris, France, for one year).
　
Academic Background:
2006: Ph.D. in Science of Language, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, France.
　
1996: Master of Fine Arts in Aesthetics, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan.
　
Website:
http://www.minorusasaki.com/

　
　
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SINZOW
　
SINZOW is her artist name. One of the reasons why she chose this name is because it means ‘heart’ in Japanese. The faculty of this organ which keeps pumping blood in and out with no rest reminds us of the tenacious SINZOW who faces up to the surrounding world, interacts with it, and produces her own creation towards it.
　
‘I’m interested in the inward of a person’, SINZOW says. In fact, we have the impression that she turns her inward out, reveals her real thoughts and feelings in her paintings/drawings, as if she is saying: ‘here is what I am.’ That does not mean that she reveals everything carelessly, thoughtlessly; in fact, she shows something firm and tangible found after her long deliberation.
　
It seems that not a few of SINZOW’s works treat the importance of life or the unfairness we meet through our life. However, there are still ambiguities which allow us to imagine other possible subjects as much as we like, so that we feel mysterious elusiveness as if we are faced with Zen questions.
　
In her works, the objects are boldly simplified, reduced into fewer brushstrokes. Many of them leave the background in blank. It seems that they have something relevant to Eastern Asian ancient aesthetical criteria. For instance, we can say that her works are excellent in qiyun shengdong 氣韻生動 and gufa yongbi 骨法用筆; these are two of the six principles of painting written by Xie He, a Chinese painter and critic, in the mid-6th century: the first principle signifies the vital force fulfilling a picture, and the second the appropriate use of brushstrokes for a structural organisation. These characteristics can be notably recognised in SINZOW’s works.
　
On the other hand, the colours she uses are unique, totally exotic. When she was younger, the opaque and greyish colours were omnipresent in her works; at that time, she found that these colours fit her the best because they represented the colours of Keihin industrial area, full of concrete, where she had grown up, she says. But her colours has changed after her moving in Niigata in 2011. Sunset, Sea, and mountains of Niigata influenced her. She sensed the colours of nature, so that the vivid coloration came out in her works.
　
SINZOW also works with black sumi ink on handmade papers. She discoverd these materials in Korea, where she has had exhibitions for ten years. With the least strokes, she makes fresh, lively modulations. We have the impression that we see the ingenuous SINZOW there.
　
Please enjoy exploring the deepest inward of SINZOW in this exhibition.
　
　
Born in Yokohama, Japan, in 1974.
　
Solo Exhibitions (extract):
Shinjuku Ganka Gallery (Tokyo), Gallery DAM (Seoul), Sakyukan (Niigata), NIIGATA EYA (Niigata), Gallery Fukuzumi (Osaka), Sfera (Kyoto).
　
Art Festivals and Art Fairs:
Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (Tokamachi), ART GWANGJU (Gwangju).
　
Awards and Recognitions:
2010: The 29th Outstanding Rising Artists (Presented by Sompo Japan Fine Art Foundation), Nomination.
　
2008: The 44th Kanagawa Art Exhibition 2008, Nomination.
　
2001: GEIJUTU DOJO GRAND PRIX (GEISAI), Silver Prize.
　
Academic Background:
1997: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Oil Painting, Musashino Art University.
　
Website:
http://www.sinzow.com/