Time Flows: Reflections by 5 Artists

Time Flows: Reflections by 5 Artists
Tomoki Imai, Tamotsu Kido, Tokihiro Sato, Masaharu Sato, Lee Kit
25.04.2020 - 07.06.2020

In this year 2020, the world seems to be rushing forward with ever-increasing exuberance towards the Summer Olympics. Under such festival-like circumstances, this exhibition asks the question: Is it possible to perceive, much less register the everyday phenomena and emotions that occur on the fringes of our consciousness? The act of noticing and recording is a common thread in the works of the five artists featured in this exhibition. These include the photography of Tomoki Imai, Tamotsu Kido and Tokihiro Sato, the animations of Masaharu Sato and the installations of Lee Kit. With their divergent approaches and unique perceptions of time, these artists seek to capture the ever-changing flow of the world that surrounds them. Perhaps in their work, we may find clues that can help us better notice the details of 2020 with the chance of remembering them.
*Works by these artists will be taken from the Hara Museum Collection.

Tomoki Imai
Imai was born in 1974 in Hiroshima. In this exhibition, he introduces selections from his series Semicircle Law (2013-), which he shot on various peaks within 30 km of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant with the camera pointed it its direction, including new works taken from the grounds of the Hara Museum. Other works are from his earlier series, Mahiru (2001) and Light and Gravity (2009). Together, they provide insight into the mind of the artist.

Tamotsu Kido
Kido was born in 1974 in Mie. In his work, he seeks to capture the “sudden senselessness” that arises when things deviate from their original roles within the mundane scenes of everyday life. In doing so, his aim is to throw light on the inherent strangeness of the act of seeing and being. Another focus is the structure of photographs and compositions made with color and light which he pursues through technical experimentation. In photographs taken at the Hara Museum, he seeks to express a world of richness as an extension of everyday life.

Lee Kit
Born in Hong Kong in 1978 and based in Taipei, Lee Kit represented Hong Kong at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. With painting, video and mundane objects as his materials, he actively creates on-site art throughout the world. He often uses his interaction with the location as inspiration for works imbued with a poetic sensibility and social and political consciousness. This exhibition features Flowers (2018, Hara Museum Collection), an installation of both projected and natural lighting that creates a feeling of tranquility within the exhibition space.

Masaharu Sato
Born in Oita in 1973, Sato pioneered a new kind of animation that involved the faithful tracing of live-action images. Works from his series entitled Tokyo Trace (2015-2016, Hara Museum Collection) show scenes of a city destined to host the Olympics in five years’ time. Sato, who passed away in 2019, uses the subtle difference between his traced animations and the original footage to create works that straddles the divide between reality and fiction, providing viewers with an intriguingly new visual experience.

Tokihiro Sato
Sato was born in 1957 in Yamagata. Since the 1980s, he has focused mainly on the themes of light, time, space, the human body and life. Sato is known for his Photo-Respiration series of photographs made using long exposures by which presence and movement within a landscape are indicated solely by points of light from a handheld penlight or mirror. Also included are recent photographs made with a digital camera at the Hara Museum.