【大海 La Mer】日本雕刻聯展 日本畫聯展 | Japanese Sculpture Group Exhibition & Japanese Painting Group Exhibition | 2023.11.18-12.24

Neptune Gallery is honored to present the exhibition titled “La Mer” during the onset of winter. We invite several contemporary artists from Taiwan and Japan to collaborate on this exhibition, creating a fusion of Japanese carving and painting to bring warmth to your daily life as we gradually approach the cold winter months. The exhibition will run from November 18 (Sat.) to December 24 (Sun.), and we sincerely invite you to attend.

The inspiration for the exhibition, “La Mer,” is derived from the orchestral composition “La Mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre” (French for “The Sea, Three Symphonic Sketches for Orchestra”) by the French Impressionist composer Achille-Claude Debussy, created between 1903 and 1905. According to Debussy’s own wishes, the design of the cover for the first edition score of “La Mer,” published in 1905, features a partial image of the left half of the giant wave from Katsushika Hokusai’s “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji,” specifically the “The Great Wave off Kanagawa.” This highlights the influence of Japonisme on the European art scene from the late 19th to the early 20th century, permeating architecture, music, dance, literature, poetry, and painting, catalyzing a revolutionary transformation in Western art. The historical ties between Taiwanese and Japanese art have deep roots, ranging from academic development during the Japanese colonial period to contemporary multicultural influences in architecture, painting, music, sculpture, and anime, showcasing the almost inherent connection of Japanese art to Taiwanese culture.

Adhering to its founding principles of speculative thinking, innovation, and exchange in contemporary art, Neptune Gallery has carefully selected seven representative contemporary Japanese painters for this exhibition. Led by the recipient of the Nikkei Japanese Painting Award, Reina Taniho, the artist employ a microscopic perspective to construct their worldview. With a fresh style acclaimed for its bold textures and vibrant colors, they break through traditional mineral pigment conventions, triggering the emotion of life emerging between abstraction and representation. Aiko Sakamoto captures the dynamic moments of living beings in nature from a three-dimensional perspective, creating an expansive scene with fluttering butterflies surrounding the protagonist, seeking the direction of the heart. While Rakusui KO and Nanami Shimoju both address the significant and classic theme of “bijin-ga” (beautiful women) in Japanese painting, they each bring their unique perspectives and cultural backgrounds, creating classical and fashionable styles in contemporary bijin-ga. Rakusui KO subtly integrates Chinese elements into Japanese aesthetics, embellishing scenes with symbols like pearls and camellias; Nanami SHIMOJU portrays the tender and loving emotions of modern women with a shy demeanor. Yi Shuan WU, with a solid artistic background in Taiwan and Japan, combines mineral pigments with familiar foil techniques, utilizing various methods such as photography and printmaking to explore and reflect on the value of subjects like flowers, grass, branches, leaves, light, and shadow. Similarly, Jui Wen TAN, with a cross-cultural background, is fascinated by the beauty frozen in a moment in time. His semi-descriptive scenes carry a myriad of thoughts, creating a hazy and blended momentary afterimage that reveals a subtle yet enduring glow.

Contemporary Japanese sculpture is at the heart of Neptune Gallery’s establishment, connecting Taiwanese and Japanese wood carving through the founder’s unique vision. This exhibition showcases the new works of nine contemporary Japanese sculptors. Ai HAIBARA excels at capturing fleeting moments of contemplation in daily life, recreating nostalgic memory scenes that resonate with the viewer’s emotions, making the transient eternal. Akiko TOJO depicts interactions between children and fantasy creatures, capturing the delicate and rich emotions in everyday life, creating a warm and healing atmosphere. Kei KAIYA, themed on “vitality,” combines animals with rising and extinguishing flames and smoke to represent the forms of the soul, conveying energy and spirit. Emi KATSUTA employs a distinctive style featuring women and red noses, showcasing a cute and fashionable large-eye style with bright and vibrant contemporary sensibilities. Using wood carving combined with fabric weaving and other multimedia applications, she expresses a vivid personal style. Hirokazu ICHII incorporates elements of wood carving and natural materials, emphasizing the close and inseparable connection between nature and humanity, creating intricate, harmonious, and transparent works. Hisanori KOJIMA specializes in vividly reproducing butterflies and moths through classical carving techniques, exploring the historical traces of their existence with a focus on natural conservation and restoration. Tatsuya MARUYAMA expresses subtle observations and imaginations of living beings, combining rich emotions with childhood innocence and nostalgic memories. Takashi AKIYAMA carves everyday trivia with an artistic touch, infusing interaction scenarios into common species with a charming seal-style technique. Takeshi MACHIYA reconstructs and reassembles forms and lines through deconstruction, creating a tribute to old objects and raising reflections on contemporary fast-paced culture, automation, and historical issues. Susumu AKO excels in using classical carving techniques to create contemporary symbolic elements in ready-made sculptures, combining traditional Japanese spirituality with a sophisticated spatial construction, engaging in a dialogue with space. Kumiko NEGAMI’s element of black humor is consistently present. A glimpse of a wry smile includes stimulating and ironic propositions about the sublimity of art, injecting topics and energetic thoughts into the sculpture, providing multiple dimensions for viewers.

We hope this exhibition, with its diverse array of artistic expressions, will provide a unique and enriching experience. Thank you for your attention, and we look forward to your visit.