◯ Talk Show “Religion, Spirituality, and the Art”
Date：11.9.Sat　4 pm ～ 5:30 pm［Reception Party：~ 7 pm］
Guest：Mitsuhiro KONDO（Japan Women’s University, Associate Professor・Religious Studies）、Mare ISAKARI（Art Critic）

LOKO GALLERY is pleased to present Sugimoto Katsuya’s solo exhibition “YOU ARE GOD – Drop in the box-”. This will be the gallery’s first opportunity to present the artist’s works.
Sugimoto’s works mainly feature his collection of numerous toys and miniatures dwelling his childhood memories. Subsequent to “YOU ARE GOD”, a series of miniature gardens presented in 2020, this exhibition will feature miniature worlds appearing inside variously shaped boxes used in the “shape sorting box”.
What motivates Sugimoto to reproduce the miniature world on the canvas by the minute, even a single sand grain, through a tremendous amount of time? We could not help but to think of Sugimoto’s devotion deriving from his religious perspective to question “whom the creator is”.
The exhibition will also show an installation where viewers could relive the miniature world made by 9 people of different backgrounds, as if they have, too, become a miniature piece.

「YOU ARE GOD —Drop in the box—」

Here I have a red box—a toy that was bought for me, almost forty years ago.

Inside the box are different kind of shapes, such as triangles, rectangles, circles, and star shapes. It is an educational toy which is known as a “shape sorting box”. Since I started possessing these, I have been collecting a variation of toys and at times painted them as subjects of my work, and have continued to collect more. For me, the origin of my toy collection is the “shape sorting box”.

I have been working on “YOU ARE GOD” series for several years now, in which toys are arranged inside the box. Referring to Sandplay Therapy, the process starts from where participants play with various types of toys within the box. As the participants share their stories of the world they have created inside the box to me, I transform them into a painting. In the past I have had children participate in the process, however this time I focused on nine adults of various backgrounds that I have met. With the cooperation of a nursery teacher, former educator, doctor, researcher, stock company employee, TV station director, idol, and a homeless person, each created their world inside the box. I shed light to each of them and translated them into works of paintings.

The title “YOU ARE GOD” quests the identity of a creator—who should be called the creator of the creation, and where creativity dwells. I ponder these questions as I create a drawing, which depicts the world someone created by arranging charming toys that someone else has created.

Katsuya Sugimoto

(Realism As) Projection of Being

Katsuya Sugimoto’s paintings are not only “realistic” but can be said to be based on a philosophical attitude regarding the meaning to paint realistically, or the meaning of the act of painting itself.

In the “Mirror” series, the artist set actual motifs on the left half of the artwork while he painted inverted images of them on the right half. Also in the “Idolization” series, he painted his palette as a motif of a painting, then used the palette used for the former work as a motif to paint his next painting, then repeated this process to exhibit a lineup of a “palette” and “palette paintings”. In either case, the artist juxtaposed the depicted “motif” and “image” to present the difference between them, which makes it obvious that his purpose is not in showing a simple trompe l’oeil (optical illusion)—in other words, to make it look real.
The case is similar in “YOU ARE GOD” series, in which the artist installs actual miniatures and sand used for the “sandplay” at the exhibition space. The artist excludes the “artist’s intent” by stating that the creator (GOD) of the “world” is, not the artist (I) himself, but others (YOU)—a consistent attitude also seen in “Idolization” series where he adopted a palette, a randomly produced by-product, as a motif of his paintings. For Sugimoto, whether leaving it to “others” or “coincidence”, to throw himself into a passive situation beyond his own control may be a condition for him to paint.
What troubles the painter at such times is that it may take a tremendous amount of time and effort to paint the given motif. If he is only in need to document “palettes” or “miniature worlds”, he may simply take photographs of them. However, it is fair to say that the meaning of painting lies in nothing other than taking “time”. The work of the artist, which involves constant confrontation of each and every object presented before his eyes—using up part of his life, in the sense of approaching death—overlaps with words of the philosopher who has profoundly confronted the essence of existence.
If this is the case, the reason the artist “realistically” paints the miniatures that he has spent half a lifetime collecting them, is not out of mere affection, but rather as an attempt to understand the reason for being. If this attitude is called “realism”, it is not about the method of pursuing “reality” nor the idea of the world existing objectively regardless of our beings. It is rather the act of trying to understand the world through the relationship of being there. When we, too, come in front of Sugimoto’s paintings with interest, we must not be satisfied with just taking snapshots. Just like when the artist paints a picture—even if it does not mean risking your life—the value lies in the time to look at it for a certain amount of time.

Mare Isakari (Art critic)

Katsuya Sugimoto CV

Profile
1984　Born in Tochigi, Japan
2007　Tokyo Gakugei University, Art Education Department, B.A.
2008　Tokyo Gakugei University, Art Education Department, M.A.
2011　Tokyo Art University, Fine Art Department, M.A.

Solo Exhibitions
2022　Difference（NOHGA HOTEL UENO TOKYO/presented by 3331 Arts Chiyoda）
2021　YOU ARE GOD（hpgrp GALLERY TOKYO）
2018　Idolization （hpgrp GALLERY TOKYO）
2017　From playing to praying （H.P.FRANCE WINDOW GALLERY MARUNOUCHI ）
2015　MIRROR | RORRIM （GALLERY KADOSAN）
2013　Visible – Invisible / Look – Overlook（Frantic Gallery）

Selected Group Exhibitions
2024　Tsuchikemuri SPOTS｜Where are you all from?（NORA HAIR SALON）
2023　Parallel Modern Workshop｜This is Mount Fuji: Worship Ascent and Worship from afar
2022　Tsuchikemuri SPOTS｜Milestones in time（NORA HAIR SALON）
2020　BREAK ZENYA in Daikanyama HILLSIDE TERRACE – Run through the times! 38 artists selected by Tomio Koyama (HILLSIDE TERRACE)
2019　STEP,SWAP,WIP,WHAT`S UP? （HARMAS GALLERY）
2019　Break Zenya – The Next Generation of Artists（A/D GALLERY）
2018　Mederu Break ZENYA Vol.3（MEDEL GALLERY SHU）
2018　Break Zenya – The Next Generation of Artists（Bunkamura Gallery）
2017　NORA HAIR SALON 10th Anniversary Exhibition, NORA × HAISHAKKEI （NORA HAIR SALON）
2016　Silver Drops “Chapter1 Prelude” Exhibition（SEIZAN GALLERY）
2016　Za · Tewaza Exhibition（Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi）
2015　NORA×HAISHAKKEI -Unveil-（NORA HAIR SALON）
2015　DECO shakkei（Haishakkei）
2015　LIONCEAUX PULUS Exhibition（Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi）
2014　Skyrocket can be a Conflagration.（HAISHAKKEI）
2014　LIONCEAUX PULUS Exhibition（Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi）
2014　Frantic Underline 2014（Frantic Gallery）
2014　NORA×HAISHAKKEI（NORA HAIR SALON）
2013　Finale Prize Winners: 12 Points of View Exhibition（Sompo Museum of Art）
2013　LIONCEAUX PULUS Exhibition（Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi）
2013　TRANS ARTS TOKYO 2013 (ART ROUND EAST)
2012　Za · Tewaza Exhibition（Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi）
2012　MITSUKOSHI×Tokyo Geidai（Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi）
2012　LIONCEAUX PULUS Exhibition（Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi）
2012　Concord ―The link of rhythmical encounter−（NORA HAIR SALON）
2012　What is alternative? Festival or mountain?（HAISHAKKEI）
2011　Tokyo University of the Arts Graduation Works Exhibitions（The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts）
2011　University of the Arts・Ibaraki University・University of Tsukuba Graduate of Work Selection Exhibition 2011（Tokai Station gallery）
2011　Promised Color, Promised Land（art space/bar conflictable cube）
2011　Frantic Underline 2011（Frantic Gallery）
2011　NORA×HAISHAKKEI（NORA HAIR SALON）
2011　LIONCEAUX PULUS Exhibition（Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi）
2010　HAISHAKKEI・Festival（HAISHAKKEI）
2010　The Exhibition of Special Art Selection, Mitsukoshi（Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi）
2010　29th Outstanding Rising Artists Exhibition in Presented by Sompo Japan Fine Art Foundation（Sompo Museum of Art）
2010　The Exhibition of Special Gems of Art, Mitsukoshi（Hotel New Otani）
2009　Tokyo University of the Arts Society for Art Education Studies Exhibitions（The University Hall, Tokyo University of the Arts）

Art fair
2022　3331 ART FAIR 2022 (3331)
2020　3331 ART FAIR 2020 (3331)
2018　ART OSAKA（hpgrp GALLERY TOKYO）
2017　3331 ART FAIR Prime Pick（hpgrp GALLERY TOKYO）
2017　ART OSAKA（hpgrp GALLERY TOKYO）
2015　Young Art Taipei（FUMA CONTEMPORARY TOKYO）
2012　EMERGING DIRECTORS’ ART FAIR ULTRA005 （Gallery Kobo Chika）
2011　SHContemporary Art Fair（Frantic Gallery）

Award
2010　Ataka Prize, Tokyo Art University
2010　Japan Prize, Sonpo Japan Art Foundation

Artist Website
katsuya-sugimoto.com

Instagram
＠sgkasp