Gallery NAO MASAKI will participate in the "NAGOYA ART COLLECTION 2024" which starts tomorrow, Saturday, November 2nd.
This exhibition will feature Mitsugu Sato's solo show for the first time in 5 years, presenting new works with a focus on three-dimensional pieces from the 108crosses series and drawing works. Please take this opportunity to experience Mitsugu Sato's artistic world at this new art fair in Nagoya.
《Untitled》
Mitsugu Sato
2001
Paper, Ink
142×175mm
Just as there is chaos in the world before us, that same chaos exists within ourselves. Things in this world that have served their purpose, been discarded, and are no longer given attention - I feel that such things serve as mirrors that reflect our own consciousness.
Mitsugu Sato
《108crosses No.22》
佐藤貢
2024
ミクストメディア
560×340×104mm
108 Crosses - Accumulating Forms = Dwelling Spirits
Recently, I watched the film "Perfect Days" directed by Wim Wenders and starring Koji Yakusho. The protagonist is a man who makes his living cleaning toilets in metropolitan Tokyo. Living in a small Showa-era wooden apartment buried within the cityscape, the protagonist's quiet and methodical daily life is modest, and his way of living, with its unique aesthetic, is refreshingly beautiful. In portraying this character, there is a scene where during his lunch break, he sits on a shrine bench along his toilet-cleaning route, looks up at the sunlight filtering through the trees, and takes photographs. Like the protagonist's accumulated monochrome photographs, the contrast between the external and internal light and darkness, visible through the existence of "him" and this world, left a deep impression on my heart. While marveling at Koji Yakusho's brilliant performance, I couldn't help but be reminded of another person.
Artist Mitsugu Sato, after dropping out of Osaka University of Arts, crawled through his inner world while traveling through India and China, and after the collapse of his spiritual self, arrived at a seaside in Wakayama. Initially living without a home, under rocky outcrops and building eaves, he eventually came to live in a house with a roof and walls, thanks to connections with people who were drawn to his charm. From then on, he began collecting washed-up corrugated iron and driftwood from the seaside, sublimating them into artworks as his medium. Around the time his works began to occupy entire walls of his house, a gallery owner from Osaka who visited through friends' introductions was amazed, leading to his first solo exhibition in 2005 and continuing to the present.
Currently living in Mie Prefecture, Mitsugu Sato's material [driftwood] isn't just from the seaside. They are [garbage] that has been discarded or fallen around him. However, he calls them driftwood. These things that no one paid attention to once had roles, then were discarded and decayed. "While collecting driftwood, I realized that I myself was driftwood," says Sato. Perhaps that's true... We all live on pathless roads, living days without answers. Even when things appear to be smooth sailing, it must surely be a wandering journey without destination.
The "108 Crosses" series, which has continued since 2016 and is being presented this time, consists of one hundred and eight crosses in each piece, including the smaller works. These crosses are made by hammering out and polishing decayed metals and other materials. It is the accumulation of daily choices that forms the background of a person that becomes prayer, sublimating garbage into artwork, possessing the power to transform spaces.
Gallery NAO MASAKI Nao Masaki
Mitsugu Sato
Artist
Born in Osaka in 1971. After dropping out of the Art Department at Osaka University of Arts, he wandered through various Asian countries from China, as well as America and Latin American countries. Having wandered between life and death multiple times, his published travelogue "Travel Journal Parts 1 & 2," chronicling his extraordinary life experiences, garnered significant attention. After returning to Japan, he moved to Wakayama City in 1998 and resumed his artistic activities using driftwood. Following his first solo exhibition in Osaka in 2005, he has held exhibitions in Tokyo, Nagoya, and other cities. He never purchases materials for his artwork production, instead using only driftwood and waste materials that gather around him. Sato says, "While collecting driftwood, I realized that I myself was driftwood." Currently resides in Mie Prefecture.
Exhibition History:
1999-present: Annual participation in group exhibitions in Wakayama City
2005: First Solo Exhibition (iTohen, Honjō, Kita-ku, Osaka; Pantalon, Nakatsu)
Traveling Exhibition (lim Art, Ebisu-minami, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo)
Special Exhibition "I Want the Moon" (SEWING TABLE COFFEE, Hoshigaoka, Hirakata, Osaka)
2006: Second Solo Exhibition (iTohen, Honjō, Kita-ku, Osaka)
Traveling Exhibition (Colon Books, Nagoya, Aichi)
Traveling Exhibition "Morning" (SEWING TABLE COFFEE, Hoshigaoka, Hirakata, Osaka)
2007: Third Solo Exhibition "Waltz" (iTohen, Honjō, Kita-ku, Osaka)
Traveling Exhibition (Morioka Shoten, Nihonbashi Kayabachō, Tokyo)
2009: Fourth Solo Exhibition (Pantalon, Nakatsu, Kita-ku, Osaka)
Traveling Exhibition (gallery feel art zero [now Gallery NAO MASAKI], Nagoya, Aichi)
2010: Fifth Solo Exhibition (iTohen, Honjō, Kita-ku, Osaka)
2011: Group Exhibition "Natural Midwifery / MAIEUTIKE - Creation of the Wild" (Bakurocho ART+EAT, Higashi-Kanda, Tokyo)
Sixth Solo Exhibition (iTohen, Honjō, Kita-ku, Osaka)
Vol.34 Special Exhibition (gallery feel art zero [now Gallery NAO MASAKI], Nagoya)
2012: Group Exhibition at Morioka Shoten (Tokyo)
Group Exhibition "Position 2012" Contemporary Art from Nagoya - The World Seen from This Place, Nagoya City Art Museum
Group Exhibition "Furniture Exhibition by Artists" at gallery feel art zero (now Gallery NAO MASAKI, Nagoya)
2013: Group Exhibition "The book as ART" at gallery feel art zero (now Gallery NAO MASAKI, Nagoya)
2015: Two-Person Exhibition "Landscapes of Daily Life, or Non-Daily Life" Living Things × Still Life: Murakusa/Kohei Oda & Mitsugu Sato at gallery feel art zero (now Gallery NAO MASAKI, Nagoya)
2016: Solo Exhibition "Swaying Forms" at gallery feel art zero (now Gallery NAO MASAKI, Nagoya)
Solo Exhibition at Morioka Shoten (Tokyo)
Group Exhibition: Electric Cultural Hall 30th Anniversary Project "THE NEXT" - 10 Creators of the Next Generation
Group Exhibition: Gallery Yada Live vol. 20 "Transmission/Departure from Aichi" - From Aichi to the World
2018: Solo Exhibition (Bohemians Gallery, Tokyo)
2019: "108 crosses" at Gallery NAO MASAKI, Nagoya
2020: "ALIVE - Aspects of Living, Emerging Expressions" Sadaharu Horio & Mitsugu Sato at Gallery NAO MASAKI, Nagoya
2021: Exhibited at Oku-Noto Triennale 2020+
NAGOYA ART COLLECTION 2024
【Date】2024.11.2(Sat) - 11.4 (Mon)
VIP Prevew：2nd, 11:00 - 14:00
Public view：2nd, 14:00 - 18:00
3rd, 11:00 - 19:00
4th, 11:00 - 17:00
【Entrance】¥1000 (Re-entry is possible during the same day)
【Venue】 Ex-Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts
1-1-1 Kanayama-cho, Naka-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture
【Artist】
Mitsugu Sato
The details are here
Please contact us via email for artwork inquiries and purchases.
「NAGOYA ART COLLECTION 2024」
This year, in the Kanayama district, which is slated for future redevelopment with cultural arts as its keyword, the "Art Link Kanayama" project will be implemented by Creative Link Nagoya, an organization whose mission is to support art in Nagoya City and the local region. Primary galleries that have endorsed this initiative will come together to hold an art fair, "NAGOYA ART COLLECTION 2024," at the ideal location of the former Nagoya/Boston Museum of Art.
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