AMSTELVEEN.- Museum Cobra is presenting the first Dutch solo exhibition of the Japanse artist Kishio Suga. In the late sixties, Suga and his contemporaries resisted the urge to control or shape nature. Instead, they let materials speak in their own language – raw, temporary, fragile – and asked themselves: what does it mean to simply let things be?

The Mono-ha movement

The Mono-ha movement emerged in Tokyo in response to social and political tensions in the sixties, especially geo-political relations between Asia and the United States. Instead of creating traditional works of art, the artists worked with natural and industrial materials in their unaltered state. This was an expression of their displeasure about postwar modernity and rapid industrialization. Suga’s work exemplifies this approach, in which meaning emerges from the relationship between objects, their surroundings, and the time we spend together with them.

The exhibition

Where Both Sides Meet refers to one of Suga’s thoughts in 1976. He surmised that art arises where the worlds of movement (such as people) and silence (such as stones) meet, creating space for reflection and wonder. It is precisely this search for the reciprocal correspondence of different elements that makes Suga’s work so powerful. He invites us to look again, to pay attention to what is otherwise taken for granted. His work is an invitation to silence, to presence, and sometimes even to smile.

Kishio Suga

Kishio Suga (1944, Morioka, Japan) is an key figure of the postwar Japanese avant-garde and know for his poetic installations and sculptures in which natural and industrial materials come together in their original state. After studying at Tama Art University, Suga began doing “field works” outdoors, combining materials such as wood, stone, and metal in the state in which they were found. In addition to installations, he also creates works on paper, wall assemblages, and performances, which he calls “activations”. His oeuvre is extensive and internationally recognized, with exhibitions at MoMA, Centre Pompidou, and the Venice Biennale, among others. Suga lives and works in Ito, Japan.

Kishio Suga – Where Both Sides Meet is kindly supported by City Council Amstelveen, Vriendenloterij, J. Safra Sarasin, Zadelhoff Cultuurfonds, Embassy of Japan in the Netherlands, Cultuurfonds/Tjerk Jan Buchter Fonds, Isaac Alfred Ailion Foundation, Japan Foundation, Nico Nap Foundation, KEIM & Business Cobra.