Dates: March 7 (Thursday) – March 10 (Sunday), 2019
Venue: Tokyo International Forum, Hall E & Lobby Gallery
3-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Booth G30

SHUMOKU GALLERY will present new works titled “Shingu” (Sacred Implements) by Iwao Ikeda (b. 1940) at Art Fair Tokyo 2019.

Following the “Disjunction of Consciousness” series exhibited at SHUMOKU GALLERY last June, in which Ikeda created works with a stronger focus on contemporary art expression and showed new developments, this time he presents “Shingu”, a series of simple yet powerful works that maximize the beauty of bamboo’s form combined with lacquer and gold.

We sincerely hope you will enjoy viewing this exhibition.

In Shinto shrines, mirrors, swords, and other sacred objects are called goshinpo (divine treasures). Exquisitely crafted masterpieces are called shinpin (divine objects), and their excellent poetry emits a sacred aura.

During the Renaissance, the painter Giorgio Vasari, who wrote Lives of the Artists, often said that masterpieces created by artists such as Giotto and Leonardo da Vinci were inspired by divine revelation.

For over 30 years, I have used bamboo and lacquer as my expressive materials, with the constant theme of “the life of bamboo and the spirit of lacquer.”

In this process, the works presented here emerged with the hope that they might serve as “yorishiro” — vessels or repositories for divine spirits.

The theme “Shingu” is a term I coined myself, reflecting this deep intention.

I look forward to the response these works will receive.

— March 2019, Iwao Ikeda