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CADAN YURAKUCHO is pleased to announce a group exhibition curated by WAITINGROOM, “I am here by WAITINGROOM” with the works by Taishi Urakawa, exonemo, Kenta Cobayashi, and yang02, through August 17th to September 5th, 2021. Almost for the first time in Tokyo, we will attempt to exhibit and sell NFT works (exonemo) in a real space.
Taishi Urakawa creates paintings with digital brushstrokes based on information and physical sensations acquired through smartphones. exonemo flexibly traverses the network world and the real world in a wide range of activities. Kenta Cobayashi applies bold digital processing to the photographs he takes, suggesting an aesthetic sense in the present age with photography as the axis. yang02 has produced many works in which autonomous devices perform various acts of expression in place of humans. This is a group exhibition by four artists who work in ways that are inseparable from the Internet and digital technology.
The title of the exhibition, “I am here,” is taken from the first work in the “Crypto Poetry” series of NFT works by exonemo, which is also included in this exhibition. Advances in information and communication technology, including the NFT, which has made it possible to guarantee the uniqueness of digital artworks that can be easily reproduced, have had a tremendous impact not only on art but also on our daily lives. Even today, when the COVID-19 has made the online space much more accessible, visiting an exhibition and seeing the works in front of you will remind you of a completely different feeling than “seeing” the works virtually. Please come and see the works that each of the four artists has brought into the real world with their own methods.
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ARTIST TALK
The talk will be broadcasted on CADAN Official YouTube.
Please enjoy it from this URL on the day of distribution. https://youtu.be/X9CsQFoejf0
I am here by WAITINGROOM ARTIST TALK
Date&Time: 9/4 (Sat.), 2021 10:00AM-（about 1 hour）
Cast：Taishi URAKAWA, exonemo, Kenta COBAYASHI, Yang02 (exhibiting artists)
Moderator：Tomoko Ashikawa (Director of WAITINGROOM)
Venue: Online (Streaming on CADAN Official YouTube)
Almost for the first time in Tokyo, we will attempt to exhibit and sell NFT works (exonemo) in a real space.
Exhibiting artists of different generations who work in ways that are inseparable from the Internet and digital technology will gather to introduce their works and exchange opinions on what they think about NFT. NFT has become a hot topic in the art world because it has made it possible to guarantee the uniqueness of digital artworks. Many people, including artists and collectors, are interested in NFT, but there are still few examples of NFT being exhibited and sold in Japan.
This is a rare opportunity to hear about NFT in the words of the artists themselves, based on their activities and interests, including those of exonemo, which actually produces and sells NFT works. We hope you will not miss it.
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Exhibiting Artists
Taishi Urakawa
“Limestone Cave (jpeg)”, 2021, cotton on panel, gesso, acrylic, 910 x 512 mm
Born in 1994 in Fukuoka. Graduated from Kyushu Sangyo University, Department of Art and Design, Painting in 2013. Currently lives and works in Fukuoka.
Taishi Urakawa is an artist who creates paintings characterized by digital brushstrokes based on information and physical sensations acquired through smartphones. The method of his art-making is to combine images and illustrations collected through online image searches and social networking services with his own photographs to create “landscape paintings”.
His recent exhibitions include a group exhibition “Transitional Landscape♡” (2021, traveling exhibition in Fukuoka, Tokyo and Kyoto), group exhibition “Shape of Gaze.02” (2021, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo), group exhibition “Taishi Urakawa & Namonaki Sanemasa – It’s not over until it’s over” (2019, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto), group exhibition “A part of new flat surface artists, core — Kazuki Umezawa, Taishi Urakawa, Takeshi Hyakuto” (2018, Genron Chaos*Lounge Gotanda Atelier, Tokyo), solo exhibition “Solo Exhibition” (Gallery Oishi, Fukuoka), solo exhibition “Appearing and vanishing things” (Gallery Monma & Annex, Hokkaido) and many others. He also received the Ohara Museum Award at the “VOCA 2018” exhibition (2018, Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo) .
exonemo is a Japanese artist unit by Kensuke Sembo and Yae Akaiwa formed in 1996 on the internet. Starting in 2000, they started their activities in an actual space, presenting installation work, performances and organizing events. Currently lives and works in New York since 2015.
In this exhibition, we will exhibit and sell the “Crypto Poetry” series of NFT works, in which poems appear by reading the infinitely repeated QR codes. This work, which actively incorporates NFT production, can be said to be a work unique to exonemo, which lightly moves between online space and real space. The limited-edition version with an accompanying square-shaped monitor that will be exhibited in this exhibition will create the effect of a QR code suddenly appearing in real space. This will be the first time for CADAN YURAKUCHO to exhibit/sell NFT works.
At their solo exhibition “EXONEMO UN-DEAD-LINK [Reconnecting to Internet Art]” held in 2020 (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo), they were awarded the 2020 (71st) Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Their recent exhibitions include a group exhibition “I am here by WAITINGROOM” (2021, CADAN Yurakucho, Tokyo), a group exhibition “Aichi Triennale 2019” (2019, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi), a group exhibition “Reincarnation of Media Art” (2018, YCAM, Yamaguchi), group exhibition “Hello World: For the Post-Human Age” (2018, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki) and many others. In 2021, they were selected as the third artist for the Obayashi Foundation’s grant program “Visions of the City – Obayashi Foundation Research Program”.
Kenta COBAYASHI
“New York City #smudge #video”, 2016, video still
Born in 1992 in Kanagawa. Graduated from Tokyo Zokei University, Department of Fine Arts, Painting in 2016. Currently lives and works in Tokyo and Shonan area.
In this exhibition, he will show some video works created by applying bold digital processing like his major photographic works.
His recent exhibitions include a group exhibition “Shape of Gaze.02” (2021, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo), solo exhibition “Live in Fluctuations” (2020, Little Big Man Gallery, USA), solo exhibition “The Magician’s Nephew” (2019, rin art association, Gunma), group exhibition “Hello World – For the Post-Human Age” (ART TOWER MITO, Ibaraki), solo exhibition “Insectautomobilogy / What is an aesthetic?” (G/P gallery, Tokyo), group exhibition “GIVE ME YESTERDAY” (Fondazione Prada Milan Osservatorio, Milano, Italy) and many others.
He also received the Ohara Museum Award at the “VOCA 2018” exhibition (2018, Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo) . In 2019, he collaborated with Dunhill ‘Blue Capsule Collection’ by Mark Weston. In 2019, he created campaign images of Louis Vuitton ‘Men’s Fall/Winter 2019’ by Virgil Abloh. His next exhibition will be the solo exhibition “#smudge “ in ANBTokyo(Roppongi) in September 2021.
yang02
“Sketches for Invisible Knowledge No.6”, 2021, ink on paper, framed
520 x 404 mm (image size: 420 x 297 mm)
Born in 1984 in Kanagawa. Graduated from Tama Art University, Graduate School, Department of Design, in 2009. Faculty at Kyoto Seika University.
yang02, who has created many self-made drawing devices that behave autonomously as a subject of expression, will exhibit devices and drawing works that question the excessively deified existence of the “artist” and the subjectivity of expression in this exhibition.
His recent exhibition include a solo exhibition “_prayground” (2019, rin art association, Gunma), group exhibition “Art Meets 06 Momma Miki / yang02” (2019, Arts Maebashi, Gunma), group exhibition “The 20th DOMANI : The Art of Tomorrow” (2018, National Art Center Tokyo, Tokyo), group exhibition “Vanishing Mesh” (2017, YCAM, Yamaguchi), solo exhibition “Examples” (2016, CLEAR EDITION & GALLERY, Tokyo), group exhibition “Aichi Triennale 2016” (2016, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi) and many others. In 2013, he stayed in Barcelona and Berlin under the Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Study Program for Artists. In 2011, he won the Rookie of the Year Award in the Art Division of the 15th Japan Media Arts Festival. In 2018, he won the Excellence Award in the Art Division of the 21st Japan Media Arts Festival. (Both collaboration works with So Kanno)
