Tatsuo Kawaguchi / Aline Kominsky-Crumb

Kayne Griffin Corcoran is pleased to present a solo exhibition of work by Japanese artist Tatsuo Kawaguchi. This will mark Kawaguchi’s second exhibition with the gallery and will comprise of works executed between 1974–89. In the 1970’s, Kawaguchi created the first work branded with the prefix that would come to define his practice for the next four decades and beyond: relation. Used in the title of most pieces he has created in the time since, “relation” became the means by which Kawaguchi began illuminating ideas too abstract or poetic for us to recognize in our everyday lives. Whether communicating the individual’s connection to society or the present moment’s place vis-à-vis the vastness of history, these overlooked relationships have motivated Kawaguchi to continue evolving creatively and reshaping our understanding of the world for over 50 years. 

Kawaguchi’s “Relation Quality” series, which are at the fore of this exhibition, rely on the natural and organic occurrence of rust. These works consist of either metals such as iron and copper or wood that are wrapped in cloth. An acidic solution is then applied to the surface of the cloth and the artist begins to make impressions with his hands or other tools on to the surface so the cloth could make contact with the metal or wood backing and the solution could begin to cause a reaction and rust. While the artists hand is present during the impression making process, the patterns and forms that begin to form are created through chance and the chemical reaction at play.

Tatsuo Kawaguchi was born in Kobe, Japan in 1940 and earned a BFA from Tama University of Fine Art, Tokyo, in 1962. He has shown extensively in Japan and internationally since, including in such historically significant exhibitions as the 10th Tokyo Biennale in 1970, the Paris Youth Biennale in 1973, and Magiciens de la terre at the Centre Georges Pompidou in 1989. His work resides in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, among others. He lives and works in Chiba, Japan.

In the South Gallery, Kayne Griffin Corcoran is pleased to present a solo exhibition of artist, writer, and cartoonist Aline Kominsky-Crumb. A pioneer of underground and alternative comics, Kominsky-Crumb is one of the most influential cartoonists of the underground era. The exhibition presents a selection of ink on paper comics and mixed media drawings spanning from the 1970s to today, along with her acclaimed 30-page story “Dream House” which looks back on her Long Island childhood, 50 years later.

Aline Kominsky-Crumb made her mark in the Bay Area’s underground comix scene with unabashedly raw, dirty, unfiltered comics chronicling the thoughts and desires of a woman coming of age in the 60s. Originally trained as a painter, Kominsky-Crumb was drawn to comics for their immediacy, porosity, intimacy, and accessibility—she saw the medium as an open and experimental place where multifaceted representations of the lives of girls and women could take shape. She—joined by her husband, noted cartoonist R. Crumb—developed a taboo-shattering confessional and autobiographical mode of making comics that melds storytelling with satire, self-deprecating irony, fatalistic humor, complex or sloppy sexuality, and generous honesty. Kominsky-Crumb was ahead of her time in juxtaposing the contradictory nature of female sexuality with a proud, complicated feminism. Through her exaggerated alter-ego, Bunch, Kominsky-Crumb unapologetically and truthfully depicts her world—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Previous solo exhibitions of her work include those held at David Zwirner, New York and Cartoonmuseum, Basel (with husband R. Crumb); DCKT Contemporary, New York (with her daughter Sophie Crumb); Art and Culture Center/Hollywood, Florida; the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, New York; and Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York. Her work has been published in Artforum, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time Out New York, and others.