Suda Yoshihiro

Alteration and Adaptation: An investigation

Saturday, April 8 – Saturday, June 24, 2023

11:00–19:00

[Reception: April 8, 15:30–17:30]

*Closed on Sundays, Mondays, National Holidays.

*The exhibition is held concurrently at London Gallery Shirokane.

London Gallery Shirokane and Gallery Koyanagi are pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Yoshihiro Suda, "Suda Yoshihiro: Alteration and Adaptation: An investigation," from Saturday, April 8th to Saturday, June 24th, 2023. This is the first joint exhibition between the London Gallery and Gallery Koyanagi.

Yoshihiro Suda was born in Yamanashi Prefecture in 1969. He is currently based in Tokyo. He creates exquisite wood carvings of plants and flowers that are so precise they could be mistaken for the real thing, and places them in unexpected locations, turning the entire space into his installation art. Installed in an obscure spot on the wall or floor, Suda's works function to shift the viewer's perspective, and to sharpen his or her eye on the surrounding space.

As indicated by the title of the exhibition, "Alteration and Adaptation: An investigation," given by Hiroshi Sugimoto, this exhibition will introduce Suda's works that he has produced so far as a close and truthful study of nature, or "Adaptation," as well as his "Alteration" of antiquity, which have been attracting attention in recent years.

Suda first exhibited his own works alongside antique artifacts at the exhibition "Buddha’s Smile: Masterpieces of Japanese Buddhist Art" held at the Okura Shukokan Museum of Fine Arts in 2000. At this exhibition, planned by Mitsuru Tajima, founder of the London Gallery, and with installation designed by Hiroshi Sugimoto, Suda placed a single piece of weed inside the display case of the National Treasure "Fugen Bosatsu (Samantabhadra) on an Elephant". Since then, Suda has exhibited his works in connection with antique art at the Manno Art Museum (2002), the Masaki Art Museum (2008), and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (2012), among others.

For this exhibition, Suda will create works to harmonize with the antique vessels selected by Hiroshi Sugimoto. The celadon vase will embrace a white plum tree with a fresh-looking branch, and the glass gin bottle will hold a dainty violet. Suda has been turning the sites into his artworks, but here the vessels are the sites. Please come and see how Suda responds to Sugimoto's questionings at the two exhibition venues.

For Suda who cites masterly Buddhist sculptors Unkei and Kaikei, or Rimpa school painters like Ogata Korin and Sakai Hoitsu when asked about artists who inspired him, the "Alteration" works of antiquity in which the artist investigate to create lost parts of Buddhist and Shinto statues and research to simulate old colors, has come to occupy a major place in the artist's creative pursuit. Beginning with "Kasuga Sacred Deer" (Kamakura period, Collection of Odawara Art Foundation), a commission from Hiroshi Sugimoto, for which Suda created antlers, saddle, sakaki trees, and clouds, Suda then worked on "Seated Attendant" (Heian period) and "Standing Court Lady" (Tang dynasty, China), commissioned by Mitsuru Tajima.

The London Gallery Shirokane will exhibit Suda's alteration works of Buddhist art and antiques from the London Gallery collection, and Gallery Koyanagi will show several works from Sugimoto's private collection and from Odawara Art Foundation.

The exhibition this time staged in two venues, London Gallery Shirokane and Gallery Koyanagi, is to showcase the present of Suda’s artistic endeavor as well as to mark the 30th anniversary since the artist's debut in 1993, when he exhibited "Ginza Weed Theory" in a coin-operated parking in the Ginza neighborhood of Tokyo. 

*The exhibition was held concurrently at London Gallery Shirokane.

London Gallery Shirokane

Opening hours: 11:00 – 17:00

Closed on Sundays, Mondays and National Holidays.

[Reception: April 8, 16:30 – 18:30]

Address:

Shirokane Art Complex 4F, 3-1-15 Shirokane,

Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0072, JAPAN

Access:

Tokyo Metro: Namboku and Mita line Shirokane-takanawa Station, Exit 4/ Hibiya line Hiro-o station, Exit 1

Tel.+81-(0)3-6459-3308 / Fax. +81-(0)3-6459-3309

Email: londongallery.sac@honey.ocn.ne.jp

Website: http://www.londongallery.co.jp