Mythological guardians, fictional tableaux and ornate abstraction are some of the themes to be found at Hong Kong Contemporary Art Foundation’s (HOCA) first landmark exhibition of 2017.
Hong Kong Contemporary Art Foundation (HOCA) has announced its first landmark exhibition of 2017 Oh Magic Night, the inaugural institutional solo-exhibition of Japanese-American artist Tomokazu Matsuyama. The exhibition will survey Matsuyama’s artistic development, anchored by themes of mythological guardians, fictional tableaux and ornate abstraction. The exhibition will run from March 19 to April 9 and presents over 50 works including a new life-sized mirrored sculpture composition inspired by Frederic Remington’s bronze sculpture from 1905 entitled The Old Dragoons of 1850.
Tomokazu Matsuyama was born in Japan in 1976 and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. His work responds to his own bi-cultural experience of growing up between Japan and America by bringing together aspects of both Eastern and Western aesthetic systems. Matsuyama is influenced by a variety of subjects, including Japanese art from the Edo and Meiji eras, classical Greek and Roman statuary, French Renaissance painting, post-war contemporary art, and the visual language of global, popular culture as embodied by mass-produced commodities.
Drawing on the artist’s personal experience of hybrid identities, Matsuyama repositions his childhood cultural history with that of his global identity. Bringing a bicultural approach to his subject matter and artistic style, his body of work reflects a strategic adoption of Eastern and Western motifs, a conscious and introspective response to his upbringing and the impact of globalization on cultural identity.
Having gone through a number of different careers, the decision to be an artist arose from his desire to have his own say.
“Getting into the culture in LA for me was really about getting into the graphics of the skate decks and the t-shirts. Ever since then, it all kind of related,” Matsuyama explains. “Originally, I was a professional snowboarder, but I became seriously injured and I recognized I couldn’t continue. Even after becoming a graphic designer, I decided I didn’t want to do ads. I wanted to do something more visual vocabulary oriented. I wanted to become an artist because I wanted to make my own statement, have my own say. It was more a transition rather than me making the decision to become an artist. But the whole core of it was that I was being heavily influenced by these separate cultures, which remains an important part of my work today”.
In the tradition of pop art, Matsuyama’s work addresses the dichotomy of high and low art, and speaks to the populist notion of contemporary urban culture. Yet, identifiable elements of pop culture are coupled with references to historical masters of both spheres. Obvious influences from the high-brow Kano school, a dominant style of painting in Japan from the 15th to 18th centuries, seamlessly blend with homage to American styles of painting such as Abstract Expressionism, and decorative motifs drawn from notable Western fashion and interior designs.
Testament to Matsuyama’s unique visual language, exhibiting works such as Still Growin’ Up is concurrently an ode to Japanese heritage and a nod to urban youth culture. Based upon the composition of a ukiyo-e print created in Meiji 24 (1894) by Utagawa Nobukazu (1872-1994), Matsuyama contemporizes the subject matter by infusing lighthearted signifiers such as a Nike logo, encouraging reinterpretation of conventional thematics.
For his sculpture series Bon Voyage, the artist appropriates Buddhist iconography embedded with popular cultural references. Wooden sculptures reminiscent of celestial figures, reveal ‘I NY’ and ‘Mickey Mouse’ silhouettes on their chest. This subtle, playful appropriation of multiple cultural influences consistent of Matsuyama’s oeuvre, is an embodiment of global exchange and a visual manifestation of the fragmentation characteristic of contemporary experience.
The title of the solo exhibition, which sounds like o-maji-nai in Japanese, meaning good luck charm, reflects the dual meaning of Matsuyama’s practice, and attempts to reveal the cultural allusions embedded in his work, while encouraging viewers to contemplate assumptions of hierarchy and homogeneity in our postcolonial society.
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Oh Magic Night
– A solo exhibition
by Tomokazu Matsuyama
March 19- April 9
Wednesday to Sunday 12 – 8 PM
Shop B104 – Shop 305
The Pulse, No. 28 Beach Road
Repulse Bay, Hong Kong
