Masahito KatayamaJapan
CLOSE
1999-Present
Associate Professor, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University (Kyushu Institute of Design)
1995
Researcher at Goldsmith College, University of London, UK under Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists
1988
Stayed in New York, US under Asian Cultural Council Fellowship
1984
Completed master course at Kyoto City University of Arts
1982
Graduated Kyoto City University of Arts
Public collection
HaraMuseumof Contemporary Art, Tokyo, OsakaContemporaryArtCenter, Osaka, WacorArtCenter, Tokyo, Instituto De Artes Graficas de Oaxaca (Francisco Toledo), Mexico, Indianapolice Museum of Art, USA, WakerHillArtCenter, Seoul, Korea, Deutsche Bank Frankfurt Branch, Germany, Dermendere　City Museum, Turkey, Machida City Museum of Grafic Art, Tokyo, FukuokaArt Museum, Fukuoka, Changdu Contemporary Art Museum, Chengdu, China
Exhibition
2010
'Spiral/View', Gallery Nomart, Osaka
'View/Ratina', 2kw Gallery, Osaka
'Spiral/View', Gallery Shirakawa, Kyoto
2008
'Membrane-Sunflower', APS gallery, Tokyo
2007
'Membrane-Lights of One Thousand',nomart project space, cube & loft,Osaka
2006
From the series 'The wind', Fukuoka Art Museum, Toyota Gallery Fukuoka
2005
'Membrane 2005', Studio603 Fukuoka
2004
'Artist in Fukuoka vol. 5 KATAYAMA Masahito Membrane2004- Into the Forest of Perception', Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka
2003
'For the Windy Day / Genealogy of the wind : Paintings from late 80's to early 90's', Toyota Building Gallery, Fukuoka
2000
'Membrane', Gallery Shirakawa, Kyoto
1998
Tor Road Gallery, Kobe
Gallery Shirakawa, Kyoto
1995
Kodama Gallery, Osaka
1994
'Genealogy of the Wind', Hosomi Contemporary Gallery, Tokyo
'Genealogy of the Wind', Galerie humanite, Tokyo
'Genealogy of the Wind '94', Gallery Maronie, Kyoto
1993
Kodama Gallery, Osaka
'Works on Paper', YohArtGallery, Osaka
Shin-Sakuramachi Gallery, Toyama
1992
'Genealogy of the Wind', Oskar Friedl Gallery, Chicago
'For the Windy Day', Izumi Gallery, Fukui
'MASAHITO KATAYAMA Works on Paper', Nomart Editions Exhibit Space,Osaka
'Genealogy of the Wind', Galerie humanite, Nagoya
'For the Windy Day', Hiro Chikashige Gallery, Okayama
MOMA Contemporary, Fukuoka
1991
Gallery Manin, Tokyo
'Genealogy of the Wind', Galerie humanite, Tokyo
'For the Windy Day', Nomart Editions Exhibit Space, Osaka
1990
'For the Windy Day', Kodama Gallery, Osaka
'For the Windy Day', Oskar Friedl Gallery, Chicago
1989
'For the Windy Day', Galerie humanite Tokyo
'For the Windy Day', Sagacho Exhibit Space, Tokyo
'For the Windy Day', Fukunishi Fine Art, Ehime
1988
'For the Windy Day', Gallery Coco, Kyoto
'For the Windy Day', Societa Artisti MA, Osaka
1987
'For the Sounds of a windy day', Galerie Arche, Tokyo
'For the Windy Day', Gallery Haku, Osaka
1986
'Botanical Figuration: Paintings, Prints and Drawings', Gallery Haku, Osaka
'Botanical Figuration: Paintings and Drawings', Gallery CASA, Kyoto
Gallery Space to Space, Nagoya
'For the Sounds of a Windy Day', Art Space Niji, Kyoto
Amaury St-Gilles Gallery, Tokyo
1985
'Botanical Figuration: Paintings and Drawings', Art Space Niji, Kyoto
1984
Art Space Niji, Kyoto
1983
Heian Gallery, Kyoto
1982
Heian Gallery, Kyoto
Associate Professor, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University (Kyushu Institute of Design)
1995
Researcher at Goldsmith College, University of London, UK under Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists
1988
Stayed in New York, US under Asian Cultural Council Fellowship
1984
Completed master course at Kyoto City University of Arts
1982
Graduated Kyoto City University of Arts
Public collection
HaraMuseumof Contemporary Art, Tokyo, OsakaContemporaryArtCenter, Osaka, WacorArtCenter, Tokyo, Instituto De Artes Graficas de Oaxaca (Francisco Toledo), Mexico, Indianapolice Museum of Art, USA, WakerHillArtCenter, Seoul, Korea, Deutsche Bank Frankfurt Branch, Germany, Dermendere　City Museum, Turkey, Machida City Museum of Grafic Art, Tokyo, FukuokaArt Museum, Fukuoka, Changdu Contemporary Art Museum, Chengdu, China
Exhibition
2010
'Spiral/View', Gallery Nomart, Osaka
'View/Ratina', 2kw Gallery, Osaka
'Spiral/View', Gallery Shirakawa, Kyoto
2008
'Membrane-Sunflower', APS gallery, Tokyo
2007
'Membrane-Lights of One Thousand',nomart project space, cube & loft,Osaka
2006
From the series 'The wind', Fukuoka Art Museum, Toyota Gallery Fukuoka
2005
'Membrane 2005', Studio603 Fukuoka
2004
'Artist in Fukuoka vol. 5 KATAYAMA Masahito Membrane2004- Into the Forest of Perception', Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka
2003
'For the Windy Day / Genealogy of the wind : Paintings from late 80's to early 90's', Toyota Building Gallery, Fukuoka
2000
'Membrane', Gallery Shirakawa, Kyoto
1998
Tor Road Gallery, Kobe
Gallery Shirakawa, Kyoto
1995
Kodama Gallery, Osaka
1994
'Genealogy of the Wind', Hosomi Contemporary Gallery, Tokyo
'Genealogy of the Wind', Galerie humanite, Tokyo
'Genealogy of the Wind '94', Gallery Maronie, Kyoto
1993
Kodama Gallery, Osaka
'Works on Paper', YohArtGallery, Osaka
Shin-Sakuramachi Gallery, Toyama
1992
'Genealogy of the Wind', Oskar Friedl Gallery, Chicago
'For the Windy Day', Izumi Gallery, Fukui
'MASAHITO KATAYAMA Works on Paper', Nomart Editions Exhibit Space,Osaka
'Genealogy of the Wind', Galerie humanite, Nagoya
'For the Windy Day', Hiro Chikashige Gallery, Okayama
MOMA Contemporary, Fukuoka
1991
Gallery Manin, Tokyo
'Genealogy of the Wind', Galerie humanite, Tokyo
'For the Windy Day', Nomart Editions Exhibit Space, Osaka
1990
'For the Windy Day', Kodama Gallery, Osaka
'For the Windy Day', Oskar Friedl Gallery, Chicago
1989
'For the Windy Day', Galerie humanite Tokyo
'For the Windy Day', Sagacho Exhibit Space, Tokyo
'For the Windy Day', Fukunishi Fine Art, Ehime
1988
'For the Windy Day', Gallery Coco, Kyoto
'For the Windy Day', Societa Artisti MA, Osaka
1987
'For the Sounds of a windy day', Galerie Arche, Tokyo
'For the Windy Day', Gallery Haku, Osaka
1986
'Botanical Figuration: Paintings, Prints and Drawings', Gallery Haku, Osaka
'Botanical Figuration: Paintings and Drawings', Gallery CASA, Kyoto
Gallery Space to Space, Nagoya
'For the Sounds of a Windy Day', Art Space Niji, Kyoto
Amaury St-Gilles Gallery, Tokyo
1985
'Botanical Figuration: Paintings and Drawings', Art Space Niji, Kyoto
1984
Art Space Niji, Kyoto
1983
Heian Gallery, Kyoto
1982
Heian Gallery, Kyoto
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Into the Forest of Perception
A Field of flowers stretches out around me in all directions.
I stand fascinated by the dazzling, overwhelming yellow world of flowers before my eyes.
The silhouettes of individual flowers blend into each other, the mass of colors firmly implanting itself onto my retina.
This memory haunts me, as the afterimages come and go, in and out of my mind.
The images in my painting are very simple. In my view, they should not be too specific or too explanatory. These images should also be part of natural world. My images basically consist of silhouettes of the centers of flowers or of landscapes. The surfaces of the paintings are covered with multiple layers of transparent paint so that they, in a way that is independent of the visual images actually depicted in the paintings, actively appeal to the non-visual sensations in our memories: touch, taste, smell, etc.
These surfaces evoke, with their materiality, sensations lying deep within the depths of our memories.
The process requires no conceptual explanations or technique.
I have great interest in texture. Or perhaps I should say, not just an interest but a sort of obsession. What is texture? Texture is the skin of nature, found in coexistence with the changing light.
It is our continuous journey, together with this changeable appearance of light, which takes us back and forth between the microscopic and the macroscopic worlds.
This light data surrounding me that I perceive through my sense of vision, these visible shapes and colors: to what extent are they real? And to what extent are they products of my imagination, or illusions fabricated by my mind?
With the regard to works of plastic art, visual experience has for the most part, played an essential role. In addition, the recent years have brought about even further development and diversification of vision-oriented communications technologies and visual expression, as can be seen in the realization of visual video worlds through the use of CGs and of increasingly rapid image data transmission. Yet we cannot deny that our overdependence on visual information has led to a deterioration of the viewers' powers of imagination and non-visual perception. Exploring the relation between information and received via sight and the other senses, as well as the relation between visual information and memory, through active stimulation and training of the non-visual perceptions (touch, taste, smell, etc.) brings out the ambiguity and wonder of visual perception and is extremely interesting.
In the Higashiyama district of Kyoto, there is a temple of the Tendai sect of Buddhism, called Renge-o-in. This temple is commonly known as "Sanjusangendo" (Hall of Thirty-three Bays) because there are thirty-three bays, or spaces, between the pillars of the inner sanctuary in the main temple building. The extraordinarily long hall houses an impressive collection of one thousand and one images of Senju Kannon (the thousand-armed Goddess of Mercy).
A thousand golden lights shine darkly in the silence. The spirit knows no limit as it expands, taking part in the profound cosmology. The lights appeal to us, inviting us to become a part of this world. The sensory experience transcends the simple act of seeing.
More than once have I visited this place in the past and I can still vividly recall how, standing before the thousand statues some years ago, at the time when I had just started on my "Membrane" series. I felt a strong desire to "create a series of works consisting of a thousand membranes that would completely obscure the viewer's view". I am not a taking about a religious experience. It was just that the force of that staggering number, one thousand, and the light contained therein coincided with the world that I was seeking to portray in the "Membrane" paintings-the world with which we connect through the act of seeing.
It is my hope that through the one thousand membranes, and through the act of seeing, my viewers may take part in an experience that transcends the world of the paintings before their eyes.
A Field of flowers stretches out around me in all directions.
I stand fascinated by the dazzling, overwhelming yellow world of flowers before my eyes.
The silhouettes of individual flowers blend into each other, the mass of colors firmly implanting itself onto my retina.
This memory haunts me, as the afterimages come and go, in and out of my mind.
The images in my painting are very simple. In my view, they should not be too specific or too explanatory. These images should also be part of natural world. My images basically consist of silhouettes of the centers of flowers or of landscapes. The surfaces of the paintings are covered with multiple layers of transparent paint so that they, in a way that is independent of the visual images actually depicted in the paintings, actively appeal to the non-visual sensations in our memories: touch, taste, smell, etc.
These surfaces evoke, with their materiality, sensations lying deep within the depths of our memories.
The process requires no conceptual explanations or technique.
I have great interest in texture. Or perhaps I should say, not just an interest but a sort of obsession. What is texture? Texture is the skin of nature, found in coexistence with the changing light.
It is our continuous journey, together with this changeable appearance of light, which takes us back and forth between the microscopic and the macroscopic worlds.
This light data surrounding me that I perceive through my sense of vision, these visible shapes and colors: to what extent are they real? And to what extent are they products of my imagination, or illusions fabricated by my mind?
With the regard to works of plastic art, visual experience has for the most part, played an essential role. In addition, the recent years have brought about even further development and diversification of vision-oriented communications technologies and visual expression, as can be seen in the realization of visual video worlds through the use of CGs and of increasingly rapid image data transmission. Yet we cannot deny that our overdependence on visual information has led to a deterioration of the viewers' powers of imagination and non-visual perception. Exploring the relation between information and received via sight and the other senses, as well as the relation between visual information and memory, through active stimulation and training of the non-visual perceptions (touch, taste, smell, etc.) brings out the ambiguity and wonder of visual perception and is extremely interesting.
In the Higashiyama district of Kyoto, there is a temple of the Tendai sect of Buddhism, called Renge-o-in. This temple is commonly known as "Sanjusangendo" (Hall of Thirty-three Bays) because there are thirty-three bays, or spaces, between the pillars of the inner sanctuary in the main temple building. The extraordinarily long hall houses an impressive collection of one thousand and one images of Senju Kannon (the thousand-armed Goddess of Mercy).
A thousand golden lights shine darkly in the silence. The spirit knows no limit as it expands, taking part in the profound cosmology. The lights appeal to us, inviting us to become a part of this world. The sensory experience transcends the simple act of seeing.
More than once have I visited this place in the past and I can still vividly recall how, standing before the thousand statues some years ago, at the time when I had just started on my "Membrane" series. I felt a strong desire to "create a series of works consisting of a thousand membranes that would completely obscure the viewer's view". I am not a taking about a religious experience. It was just that the force of that staggering number, one thousand, and the light contained therein coincided with the world that I was seeking to portray in the "Membrane" paintings-the world with which we connect through the act of seeing.
It is my hope that through the one thousand membranes, and through the act of seeing, my viewers may take part in an experience that transcends the world of the paintings before their eyes.
