TARO CHIEZO
Modernism Strikes Back
MAIN GALLERY
2 DECEMBER, 1999 - 8 JANUARY, 2000
Desire of Machine
1997
Oil on linen
90 x 72 inches
|
Fantastic Ware of Floating Land
1999
Oil on linen
78 x 144 inches
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left: Father and Son I
1999
Oil on linen
78 x 144 inches
right: Happy I Am
1998
Oil on linen
78 x 60 inches
|
Sandra Gering Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by Taro Chiezo Modernism Strikes Back from 2
December 1999 through 8 January 2000. The futuristic vision of Chiezo's work makes it the perfect exhibition to close out one millenium
and enter a new one.
Artist's Dialogue:
Last month the Museum of Modern Art opened Modern Starts, an exhibition that re-assembles the concept of a linear modern art history.
Earlier this year, George Lucas presented Episode 1 from the Star Wars series, creating a pre-history for his fictional world. The current
Pokemon movie features monsters that are hybrids of classic sci-fi creatures and monsters from ancient myths of different cultures. This
re-shuffling of a predetermined chronology is typical of Postmodernism, and is the inspiration for the works in Modernism Strikes Back.
This exhibition consists of two bodies of work Airport Paintings and sculptures entitled Modern Dreams. In the painting Fantastic War
at Floating Land, a dreamlike space based on airport interiors becomes a battleground for cartoon ghosts and monsters. The airport
landscape is ungrounded in time and geographic location, a neutral space in which the dreams and ghosts of all the world's travelers exist.
Inspired in part by Malevich's sculpture Archtechton, the Modern Dreams sculptures defrost the icon of the modern idea. Melting toy
cities contained within wire grids bring warmth to the structure that has been frozen in time.
Also included in the installation will be a new type of artificial-life robot sculpture A Life Has Been Generated. Robots have been the focus
of my work for many years as they most clearly represent our future.
This is Taro Chiezo's first solo exhibition in New York since 1996. In the intervening years, he has exhibited widely in Japan and Europe.
In fall 1999 he had solo exhibitions at Dai-ich Life Gallery and Tomio Koyama Gallery in Tokyo. Recent group exhibitions include
Painting for Joy: New Japanese Painting in the 1990s, the Japan Foundation Forum, Tokyo; The Manga Age, The Museum of
Contemporary Art, Tokyo; and Art Transpennine '98, Tate Gallery Liverpool, Great Britain.