22 Exhibitions EPHEMERAL PORTRAITS OF JAPAN


During the winter, the Guimet Museum is presenting the photographic project Hakanai Sonzai, which means in Japanese ‘I feel like an ephemeral creature myself ’. Trough the use of colour portraits, landscapes, and black and white stilllifes resembling prints, Pierre-Elie de Pibrac (b 19823) recounts the feeling of impermanence that permeates Japanese culture. Continuing anthropological and social photographic work initiated in 2016 in Cuba, Pierre-Elie de Pibrac travelled across Japan between December 2019 and August 2020 to produce the Hakanai Sonzai series. During this immersive investigation, the artist met individuals seeking to express the individuality of their personal story by participating in the project, from all levels of society: yakuza, survivors of Fukushima, hikikomori (people living cut off of the world and others, most often cloistered in their rooms) or those that had ‘evaporated’ having opted for a voluntary disappearance. Te photographer often


initiates these intimate exchanges by sending blank notebooks and disposable cameras, maintaining a diligent correspondence with his models before working with them in natural settings


Fine Wind, Clear Weather (Gaifu kaisei) by Katsushika Hokusai, also known as Red Fuji, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei), circa 1830-31, woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and colour on paper, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Nellie Parney Carter Collection. Photo: © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston


HOKUSAI Inspiration & Influence


Hakanai Sonzai #3 by Pierre-Elie de Pibrac, courtesy Galerie Anne-Laure Buffard Inc Photo: ©Pierre-Elie de Pibrac


and lighting. Te human time necessary to create the relationship then corresponds to the length of time given to the photography. As a counterpoint to these large-format photographic paintings where the face of the other is omnipresent, a set of black and white photographs offers, without trace of human presence, sumptuous details of eternal Japan: waterfalls, ponds with


unfathomable depths, oppressively dense canopies, abandoned architectures, making visible the violence hidden in the disturbing beauties of the Japanese landscape. Inspired by the Japanese tradition of ukiyo-e, a subtle art of ink and woodcuts, these black and white photographs refer to the acute awareness of the precariousness of existence, present in the notion of Mono


RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA A Lot of People


All throughout his career, which spans more than 30 years, Tai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija (b 1961) has always emphasised the collaborative and participatory effort of the audience. Whether preparing and sharing a meal, coffee or tea, engaging in a ping-pong game or playing music in a recording studio, the audience is always invited to interact with the artist, thus becoming fully part of the work. In this present retrospective, his first to date in the US, the artist presents, restages or reinterprets a number of his hallmark works, also including five historical interactive pieces in the form of a play. Featuring over 100 works, the exhibition displays a selection of pieces, providing an overview towards understanding all aspects of Tiravanija’s work. Whether installations, sculpture, video, film, drawings or editions, the artist emphasises the human encounters and interactions behind his works, while not being shy of speaking up and addressing essential questions towards our political systems. Over the past decades, Rirkrit Tiravanija has been a steady figure in the contemporary art world, eager to take contemporary art out of the gallery and institutions, blending art and life. Today perhaps more than ever, he underlines the importance of the human experience, an experience at the basis of the enrichment of everybody’s life. Olivia Sand • Until 4 March, 2023, MoMa PS1, New York, momaps1.org


no Aware, sensitivity for the ephemeral omnipresent in Japan, where the random forces of a capricious and mystical nature with its recurring terrestrial and marine earthquakes weigh on the lives of the inhabitants.


• Until 15 January, 2024, Guimet Museum Pairs,


guimet.fr.


• A publication accompanies the exhibition


• Until 21 January, 2024, Seattle Art Museum, seattleartmuseum.org • Catalogue available


Taking a novel approach to the work of the celebrated artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), this travelling exhibition explores his impact on other artists – both during his lifetime and beyond. Troughout a career of more than 70 years, Hokusai experimented with a wide range of styles and subjects, producing landscapes such as the instantly recognisable Great Wave and Red Fuji (both about 1830-31), nature studies, such as bird-and-flower works, and depictions of women, heroes, and monsters. Te 100 artworks on view show the breadth of subjects the artist tackled, including landscapes as in the Tirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series (1830-31), demons and fairytales as in Te Ghost of Kohada Koheiji (circa 1831-32), warriors in combat, and landscapes. Tese unique juxtapositions demonstrate Hokusai’s influence through time and space – seen in works by, among others, his daughter Katsushika Oi, his contemporaries Utagawa Hiroshige and Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 19th-century American and European painters, as well as modern and contemporary artists including Helen Frankenthaler, Chiho Aoshima, and Yoshitomo Nara.


WATCH a tour on


Inspiration and Influence,


MFA, Boston


Untitled 2012, Remember JK, Universal Futurological Question Mark UFO, Zocalo, Mexico City, digital print


White Fujiyama Ski Gelände (1999) by Yoshitomo Nara, from the series In the Floating World, colour Xerox print of reworked woodcut, courtesy of Yoshitomo Nara Foundation and Pace Gallery © Yoshitomo Nara. Photo: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston


WISE AND UNBIASED Royal Philosophy in Paintings and Calligraphy of the Joseon Dynasty


Te year 2024 marks the 300th anniversary of King Yeongjo’s (1694-1776) enthronement, the 21st monarch in the Joseon dynasty. Tis special exhibition Wise and Impartial: Royal Philosophy in Paintings and Calligraphy of the Joseon Dynasty focuses on the power of text and images used by King Yeongjo and King Jeongjo (1752-1800), as they worked to create an impartial and harmonious society. In a tumultuous period when factional politics were at an extreme and royal authority was shaken to the point that officials were choosing their preferred kings, King Yeongjo used words to set the course for the country as it sought a path to harmony through impartiality. He also communicated with his subjects and people through calligraphy and painting in an effort to promote harmony and neutrality by fairly appointing talented people and establishing a righteous government. Succeeding King Yeongjo’s policy of balance and impartiality, King Jeongjo meticulously managed state affairs by cultivating close associates, such as officials from the Gyujanggak Royal Library. Just as King


ASIAN ART | WINTER 2023 | #AsianArtPaper |


Yeongjo and King Jeongjo communicated through calligraphy and painting to deliver their messages, the museum is attempting to communicate their thoughts through this exhibition. Artists featured include Choe Deuk-hyeon, Kim


Deuk-sin, and others. Highlighted objects on show comprise an eight-panel folding screen of a Royal Procession to the City of Hwaseong (1795), Collection of the National Museum of Korea; the painting Celebration for a Royal Event (1783) from the collection of the National Museum of Korea; a portrait of a Sapsaree Dog (1743) by Kim Duryang (1696-1793), from a private collection; calligraphy by King Jeongjo (1798), collection of the National Museum of Korea; and album of a King’s Personnel Evaluation (1728), collection of the National Museum of Korea (bon 7865); and an eight-panel folding a screen of Zhu Xi’s Poem (1799) by Kim Hongdo, from a private collection.


• 8 December to 10 March, 2024, National Museum of Korea, Seoul, museum.go.kr


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Portrait of a Sapsaree Dog (1743) by Kim Duryang, private collection. The artist followed in his father’s footsteps by entering the royal service as a member of the Dohwaseo, the official painters of the Joseon court


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