Perrotin‘s Paris flagship is playing host to a new body of work by the acclaimed Japanese artist, Izumi Kato. As his third solo show with the gallery, the eponymously named event comprises of assemblage sculptures, as well as paintings of his enigmatic characters.
Sometimes disturbing, other-times enchanting, Kato echoes a spiritual world through his largely primitive markings, harking to revered Japanese painters, such as Kawanabe Kyosai and Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Like ancient cave art, Kato creates his featureless characters through a combination of intuition and a presence of mind of his home nation’s long history of spirituality — from Buddhism to Shintoism.
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Pervading each work is a feeling of absence and melancholy, such as in his latest Untitled series of sculptures, made with paint on aluminum, which subtly reflect the crisis Japan experienced during the Meiji period, as Buddhist temples were attacked to promote “native Shintoism.
“These figures,” wrote the gallery, “are endless questions, beyond any specific place or time, as Japanese as they are ours, wherever we are. They challenge our gaze, drawing us in, interrogating what makes us mortal.” The exhibition opened last week and will be on view at Perrotin Paris until July 29.
Across the pond, the Noguchi Museum is featuring artwork created by its own staff.
Perrotin
76 Rue de Turenne
75003 Paris
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