Japanese artist Takehito Koganezawa is the second Qbox artist in residence and this is his first solo exhibition in Greece. Takehito Koganezawa (born Tokyo 1974) spent one and a half months on the island of Kea as a resident artist and created a new body of work.

 

The exhibition titled Ephemeral Graffiti reflects the impression made on the artist by his staying on the island and he will present videos, sculptures and a drawing. The title refers to the different layers that comprise the material world as well as their transient nature and the volatile relationship between them. This last work is not a continuation of a previous one, as his disposition pushes him to continuously work with new means. Koganezawa looks for inspiration in the location itself and lets himself be part of the landscape, recording his memory while composing his new exhibition.

 

The drawing (untitled) is the starting point and constant reference for the artist. It is part of his subconscious thought which helps him turn his work three-dimensional. A red animal sits on top of a tree’s branches and worryingly observes its surroundings. The branches we see in the drawing are also present in his sculptures, which he presents for the first time.

 

For him, his sculptures are an impulsive act. Koganezawa converts a tree’s branches into a moving object. Without processing the wood itself he adds paper details and places it in a new setting. As he observes it he finds the borderline between nature and its skillful manipulation. With a humorous attitude he converts it into a surrealistic being of minimal aesthetics.

 

The island inspires much of his materials. He uses wood, found on location nails, clay and adhesive tape along with material more familiar to his work such as coloured pencils and cardboard, with which he creates figures that star in his videos.

 

His videos Bad Ego and Speak No Evil are essentially a recorded sequence of the artist’s feelings. They have him as a reference point. In these videos Koganezawa has cut black cardboard to recreate a mask of his own face, in which the eyes and the mouth hover and move with the wind, a defining element of the island.

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Takehito Koganezawa (b. 1974, Tokyo) graduated from Musashino Art University in Tokyo in 1998 and he has been awarded several scholarships in Japan and Germany. He works with video, sound and light and his artworks include performances, sculptures and drawings. Koganezawa was invited to the 2nd Qbox Residency Program where he created a new body of work with novel materials to him and part of his new works will be shown in his solo show at the Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery in Yokohama, Japan. He currently lives and works in Berlin.

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