from September 4 to December 2 2018
"Pixcell-deer"
Kohei Nawa
Curator of the exhibition: Claude d'Anthenaise, Sumiko Oé-Gottini
On the occasion of the season in France and in the continuity of a collaboration initiated two years ago, the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature and the Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto present a solo exhibition dedicated to Kohei Nawa.
An eminent figure in Japanese contemporary art, the artist is in the spotlight in Paris this fall with the sculpture Throne exhibited at the Louvre Museum as part of the Japonismes 2018 season. The works scattered throughout the permanent collections of the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature take up the themes dear to the artist who attempts to renew sacred imagery.
(Automatically translated with Google Translate)
To this end, he mixes elements from traditional Japanese culture - including references to Shinto cults - with images from contemporary technology. For example, PixCell-Deer transforms the perception of a deer - a sacred animal in ancient Japan - by combining a naturalized specimen with glass spheres that cover it completely, fragmenting its silhouette. At the Museum of Hunting and Nature, the work comes into dialogue with the images of deer from Western culture that are already present in the permanent collection.
For his residency at Villa Kujoyama in 2015, Kohei Nawa teamed up with the Franco-Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet, who is himself strongly influenced by Japanese tradition and Shugendo rites. From this common experience was born the work Vessel where the human body is used as an abstract sculptural material, the entanglement of the limbs giving birth to unusual forms that are reflected by a water mirror. The video from this ballet is presented among the museum's hunting weapons, near the sculptures that inspired Kohei Nawa.
Finally, the museum hosts new glass and taxidermy sculptures, hung among the naturalized animal heads in the Trophy Room.
