August 22 – September 25, 2022
Time & Style Midtown
TIME & STYLE MIDTOWN will present the work of Kazutoshi Shimuta in the upcoming exhibition “ART IN TIME & STYLE MIDTOWN VOL. 22: Torso on the Box.”
When TIME & STYLE operated TIME & STYLE HOME in Jiyugaoka (Tokyo), “T&S Gallery,” which introduced refined contemporary art of the time, was attached to the store. This gallery was the setting of many artists’ solo and group exhibitions. One particularly striking show featured a superb, tension-filled installation by Kazutoshi Shimuta.
With the opening of TIME & STYLE MIDTOWN, the exhibition venue was relocated to this new store, and thus became a setting that also calls for awareness of showing art together with furniture and interior design. What sorts of scenes will come about when Mr. Shimuta’s installations are dropped into this unique place for art exhibitions? We encourage you to come and experience this space for yourself.
(Planning by Banana Art)
Making a torso with the shape that is created by stacking six cases on three levels (two cases each) is an idea I’ve had for around ten years. I drew pictures and refined the images, and tried making them three-dimensional using various methods, but I didn’t arrive at a point where I made them works of art. The reason I held on to this idea anyway, I think, is that the image of a torso-like figure (a body that never asserts or expresses itself) is a central part of my interest in creating art.
In this work, “Torso on the Box,” the torso and the box are equally important elements. The box stores and houses the torso; it’s also a pedestal for displaying the torso. But this alone is not what gives it the same importance as the torso. The reason it’s important is that, from the beginning, I’ve envisioned an exhibition in which the torso is in a contained state. What does this mean?
Compared to the torso being placed on a box (i.e., pedestal), I think a situation where the torso is contained inside a box is more likely to inspire visitors—and me—to imagine a slightly wider world around the work. And I think this can lead people to reflect on the possibilities of other places and times, and on other ways of being. By making this the landing point, I was finally able to turn the torso into a work of art.
For this exhibition, on the other hand, the venue already has furniture on display, so I didn’t think it was appropriate for that method and decided not to use it. With regard to the state of storage in boxes, I used “11 Torsos in the Boxes” in the direct mail photo. Previously I’ve carried out this method of displaying torsos that are stored in boxes numerous times, as part of the series of works called “pious colors.”
(Kazutoshi Shimuta)
Profile
1957 Born in Fukuoka
1982 Graduated from the Painting Department (Oil Painting program) of Tokyo University of the Arts
1986 Completed Mural Painting Course 2 at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School
1988 Studied on a DAAD scholarship with Prof. Franz Erhard Walther at the University of Fine Arts
Hamburg (Germany)
1991 Withdrew from Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School after completing all doctoral
coursework
Principal exhibitions
1991 Solo exhibition / Chinretsukan Gallery, Tokyo University of the Arts
Solo exhibition / Gallery Myu
Group Exhibition: “Poetics of Hue” / Kawasaki City Museum
1992 Solo exhibition / Morris Gallery
Group exhibition: “1st TRANSART ANNUAL” / Yokohama Business Park
1993 Solo exhibition / Gallery gen
Solo exhibition / Morris Gallery
1994 Solo exhibition / Gallery Myu
1996 Solo exhibition / Gallery 360°
Group exhibition: “Requiem – Koji Enokura and 33 Artists” / Saito Memorial Kawaguchi Museum of
Contemporary Art
1997 Group exhibition: “The Locked Room” [o1] / Gallery Myu
Solo exhibition / Akiyama Art Gallery
1998 Solo exhibition / Kamakura Ntei
2000 Group exhibition: “Framing” / GALERIA RASEN
Solo exhibition / T&S Gallery
2001 Group exhibition: “Extending the boundaries of painting: exploration of color” / Sakura City
Museum of Art
Group exhibition: “Field of Emergence/Drawing” / Chinretsukan Gallery, Tokyo University
of the Arts
2002 Solo exhibition: “Overflowing Carnation” [o2] / TIME & STYLE GALLERIA
2003 Group exhibition / Gallery appel
2005 Solo exhibition / Plaza Gallery
Group exhibition: “DJ Brand” / The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts
Solo exhibition: “TORSOHOUSE (idle village)[o3] ” / T&S Gallery
2006 Group exhibition: “LVRFI” / Studio ONO
Solo exhibition / Akiyama Art Gallery
2008 Group exhibition / TIME & STYLE MIDTOWN
Group exhibition: “LVRFI” / T&S Gallery
2009 Solo exhibition / void+
Solo exhibition: “16 × 24 Pious Colors” / Akiyama Art Gallery
Solo exhibition: “Torsohouse – The Morning after the Flood[o4] ” / T&S Gallery
2011 Group exhibition: “100 Years of Art in Matsudo” [o5] / Matsudo Museum