“Living in symbiosis with Forests and Water”

From Saturday, August 28th, the exhibition “Living in symbiosis with Forests and Water" began at the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum.
However, the museum will be closed from September 3rd (Friday) to 12th (Sunday) to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection.

So I rushed to the exhibition.
I entered the museum around 15:40, so I couldn’t watch slowly, I hurried around a little, but the exhibition was better than I expected.

It couldn’t take pictures in the exhibition rooms, so I’ll write some works that left an impression on me. (Only one photo of a part of the pamphlet was posted.)

“Mt. Fuji" Hitoshi Komatsu (1977)
A horizontally long screen measuring 95 cm x 367 cm is displayed on top of each other.
The upper screen is Mt. Fuji, and the lower is the scenery of the foot of Mt. Fuji. Especially the screen below was good.

“Law of the Jungle" Taro Okamoto (1950)
It’s a work I often see, so I thought I knew it, but I had not really watched it at all. Looking at the screen nearby, not only the monster with the zipper in the center, but also the animals(?) on the left and right are also quite interesting.

“HOLY TREE" Koji Suzuki (2016)
I was looking at his paintings in some picture books, and I felt that I didn’t like it very much as a picture, but when I saw the 180 cm x 425 cm screen on display, the impression changed. I found it fun to see his painting on such a big screen.

Entered the next exhibition room.  I was worried about the remaining time, so I hurried up a little from here.

“Paradise under the Sea" Shigeru Aoki (1907)
It’s an important cultural property. I also like the fact that the screen is vertically long and the left and right sides of the top are drawn in a slightly arched shape.

“Blue Pond" Mayuka Yamamoto (2004)
A mysterious picture of a boy with antler and a white deer submerged in water.

To the next exhibition room. Go out to the corridor and return to the entrance of the first exhibition room. But this time, do not enter the first exhibition room, but will go down the stairs aside of the door. The ticket was confirmed again here.

As I went down the stairs, I noticed a plant on the top of the wall, but I didn’t look at it very well and went down.

Actually this is maybe
“Weed" Yoshihiro Suda (2021)
Looking at the list of works, his works are colored wood carving. I just glanced at the plants on the stairs and didn’t observe it.
According to the list, there should be 3 works, 2 “Weed" and “Leaf".
But was “leaves" in another exhibition room?  I saw a leaf in another room and just wondered “Why are the leaves here?" but passed by without looking closely.
I have to revisit for confirmation.

This third room had some favorite works.

“Gardening (Manhattan)" Oscar Oiwa (2002)
Flowers are floating against the background of skyscrapers. But the city is quiet and I felt these are flowers to the dead.

“Whale’s Eye Series" Maki Ohkojima (2018-2019)
She said that the production started when she saw the corpse of a whale floating in the sea. The lengths of the three works are 6.58m, 7.35m, and 15m, respectively. They were hung from the ceiling and exhibited.

“Dragon-Advent 17-1" “Dragon-Appearance 17-1" Keizaburo Okamura 2017
The former is 295 cm x 480 cm, the latter is 230 cm x 660 cm, and is a folding screen made of a solid board with a thickness of 9 cm. The picture seems to be colored after carving a line. When I look at it, we can see some eyes on the body of dragon.

The exhibition is from August 28th to September 28th in the first half and from September 30th to November 3rd in the second half. The exhibition will be changed between the first half and the second half, but this will close the museum for a while, so the exhibition period for the first half will become shorter.
The wood carvings “weed" and “leaf" are on display also in the latter half, so I’ll go see them again after changing the exhibits.

***

I walked around the exhibition in a hurry, so I had about 30 minutes left until the museum closed.
The exhibition room next to the 2nd floor is holding the “Nagano Prefectural Art Museum Masterpieces Exhibition Phase 1", so I entered there as well.

What I like the most here is the kimono, not the picture.
“Yuzen Dyeing / Sea Score" Kohakushi Kumagaya (1980)
Shellfish patterns are lined up side by side in a calm shade of gray. As for the ground pattern looks like a wood grain of a board is also used. This is cool.

For the prefectural museum masterpiece exhibition, the QR code is printed in the work list, and it seems that we can see the explanation on our smartphone by reading this. I noticed it when I got home, so I didn’t try it on the spot.

Earphones are also needed because some content seems to have audio guidance. I will try it next time.

I watched the exhibition before the museum will be closed, it was quite interesting.
Again, the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum is closed from September 3rd (Friday) to 12th (Sunday).

(Note) Artist talk (online distribution) is scheduled from 14:00 on Saturday, September 11th, it seems that this will be held.

After the tour, from the west side.

In the far upper right of the photo is a building called “Zoshunkaku". Built in 1967. I have never entered, but it has a large hall on the first floor and was used as a venue for events and wedding receptions, and the rooftop was an outdoor concert hall.
It was used as an annex of Johyama Public Hall after 2006, but it was closed in March 2018 due to aging and is no longer in use. It has already been decided to be dismantled.

Museum

Posted by Sakyo K.