At first glance, this exhibition (2010/11/08-13) by Sunagawa Tatsumasa (砂川達政) at
Gallery-Q seemed like other exhibitions, but as I stood and contemplated the paintings, there was something about their
physical depth that made them seem very solid and real; the way a textured wall in a room with history is. (Among other things, the artist used clay and sand in the creation of the paintings, so they really are similar to some old walls in their texture.) My conclusion when looking at the painting shown on the promotional card (first image below) is that if it were hanging on a modern smooth wall, it's the sort of thing you could stare into while thinking about something.... And then I moved on to the last image (in the order that I viewed them that is - the second image below), and... [see below]...
... as I stood there contemplating it (and the original has much more depth than any photograph can show) with the artist standing beside me also looking at it, I found myself feeling happy and... what?... enthusiastic/euphoric... fun... yes! - that's it! "Fun" is the word! I was surprised to realize this spontaneous feeling and I still wonder at it. Does this painting emanate fun rays by virtue of materials used and emotion input by the artist? Or was I getting a vicinity-high by standing next to the artist who said the picture is a favorite of his? Maybe both? This is one of the reasons I prefer autobiographies over biographies and art by live artists over art by dead artists. I like to get things from their source - not someone else's interpretation of what someone else was thinking. When the source is standing right beside you, you not only get their words directly, you get their radio waves - and the full picture can come in loudly and clearly.
Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/
http://ginzalyle.blogspot.com/
http://tokyoartmusic.blogspot.com/
