Saito Haruka, Nakazawa Daisuke, Yuasa Ebosi: Approach to Alternative Images

Artists: Saito Haruka, Nakazawa Daisuke, Yuasa Ebosi

Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS) has been supporting the activities of artists, continuously and at various stages in their careers, through open call exhibitions, special showcases, and international exchange programs. The ACT (Artists Contemporary TOKAS) exhibitions, launched in 2018 as a series focusing mainly on artists who have previously participated in other TOKAS programs, introduce noteworthy efforts by up-and-coming artists. Shown at this forth ACT exhibition are works by Saito Haruka, a creator of paintings and installations that incorporate elements of time and space; Nakazawa Daisuke, who is active as a “narrative explorer” and designer; and Yuasa Ebosi, an artist whose work revolves all around a fictitious painter.

The three featured artists attempt in their works to extend certain shared times and spaces, by introducing elements of imagination into events that actually occurred in the past. In the exhibition, Saito and Nakazawa both present new works that were inspired by the history of the TOKAS Hongo building, which was constructed in 1928, while Yuasa presents paintings by a fictitious artist of that time. By linking past events to the present, these works expose the structure of the human society that we are part of, while at once presenting alternative perspectives on the world. Unfolding on the stage of the TOKAS Hongo building, which has itself seen a variety of human individuals come and go as time moved on from the Showa (1926–1989) to the Reiwa (2019–) era, the exhibition aims to inspire visitors to think again about what they see here and now, by connecting to things that once existed there and then.

Artists
Saito Haruka
Saito presents a video installation themed around the transformations of the TOKAS Hongo building, from the delayed construction works to the damage it suffered during the air raids of 1945. Images of the building’s temporal and spatial developments through the stages of construction, devastation and restoration, are accompanied by spoken words, and wind generated through the movements of objects.

Nakazawa Daisuke
In this exhibition, the artist temporarily sets up a present-day incarnation of the “Hongo Employment Agency.” After watching interviews with people of various professions/positions on the meaning of work, participants can book interviews with “agents” at the Employment Agency, which inspire them to look back on their own work.

Yuasa Ebosi
Presented at this exhibition are works that were—allegedly—made by the fictional Yuasa Ebosi (1924–1987) in the 1960s–70s. In a style that suggests influences from surrealism, “reportage painting” and American culture, the artist illustrates a history that could have been a reality, as part of his attempt to grasp the present age from various points of view.

About the TOKAS Hongo building
The TOKAS Hongo building was erected in 1928 as part of Tokyo City’s reconstruction project after the Great Kanto Earthquake. It initially served as an employment agency, before being transformed into a public vocational guidance center in 1949. Having functioned as a training school for several decades, it finally reopened in 2001 as an art center.

Organizer: Tokyo Arts and Space, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture