Masanori Handa's world is one of playful, impressionistic, yet nonetheless contemplative experimentation. Fleeting encounters and occurences often give vital momentum to his practice. Sites, scenery, and urban phenomena are the loci at which incidents are recorded and vividly remembered by Handa. His unique approach results in a variety of large installations and sculpture.
At his first solo exhibition in Ota Fine Arts Tokyo, he reconfigured "150 hedron", a particular Islamic symbol. The structure was constructed with brass and glass, 3 metres in height and coloured by buttermilk and coal tar. This paint mixture became cracked as time passed by, and came to litter the floor, dappling it like snowflakes. In addition, he set up "Golden Cloud" made of brass and a cracked signboard with directions to an absurd and fictitious mosque formed by objects from strange, different origins. Handa wished to express the magnificence of daily religious activities in Islamic cities around the world as something that could not be fully explained or understood.
At Ota Fine Arts Singapore, Handa staged an immense, yet intricate, site-specific installation titled "nakakiyo no entakukei" put together with an assortment of trailing vines, timber, cement, canvas, foam and fabric. The enormity of the work was breathtaking, and inspired by the atmosphere, climate, psychogeography and cross-cultural dialogue.
Masanori Handa (b. 1979, Japan) completed a BA in Fine Arts at the Tokyo University of the Arts in 2003. His solo exhibitions include “A Palace”, Ota Fine Arts, Singapore (2017), “nakakiyo no entakukei”, Ota Fine Arts, Singapore/ Tokyo, Japan (2013/ 2015). He also participated in various group exhibitions including “The Rolex Arts Festival”, The National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens, Athens, Greece (2023), “Hawai‘i Triennale 2022: Pacific Century – E Ho‘omau no Moananuiākea“, Hawaii, USA (2022), “Art House Project”, Setouchi Triennale, Inujima, Japan (2019), “TWO STICKS”, The Museum of Architecture in Wrocław, Warsaw, Poland (2015), “ERASURE: FROM CONCEPTUALISM TO ABSTRACTION”, Osage Hong Kong / City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (2015), "Ways of Worldmaking", The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan (2011). His works are in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo, Japan), Edoardo Chiossone Museum (Italy), Daiwa Radiator Factory (Japan), and Japan Foundation (Japan).
- Masanori Handa127 Scenes, 2022Site specific video installation, mixed media including metal, media cables4 monitor elements, each 20 x 20” with exposed cables
- Masanori HandaTOOKAIDO NEWMAN, 2020Oil on paper37.3 x 74.8 cm
- Masanori Handaamacyan gayacyan ittcyan buncyan minna nakayoshi, 2020Watercolour, oil pastel on paper53.5 x 53 cm
- Masanori Handaamacyan gayacyan ittcyan buncyan minna nakayoshi, 2020Watercolour, oil pastel on paper53.5 x 52.8 cm
- Masanori HandaHana, 2018Oil on canvas97 x 160 cm
- Masanori Handanakakiyono, 2018Watercolor, oil pastel on paper67.5 x 67.5 cm
- Masanori HandaA Palace, 2017mixed mediaDimensions Variable
- Masanori HandaTIDAL WAVE, 2017Oil on paper25.7 x 34 cm
Mannat Gandotra | Masanori Handa
Mannat Gandotra, Masanori Handa25 May - 6 Jul 2024SingaporeOta Fine Arts Singapore is delighted to present a duo exhibition, 'Mannat Gandotra | Masanori Handa'. The works of these two artists express unique worlds created by them, whether it...Read morePetite Grounds
Bubu de la Madeleine, Rina Banerjee, Chen Wei, Masanori Handa, Tsuyoshi Hisakado, Hilmi Johandi, Tomoko Kashiki, Yayoi Kusama, Jason Lim, Guo-Liang Tan, ¥ouada, Zai Kuning9 Jan - 24 Feb 2024ShanghaiOta Fine Arts Shanghai is pleased to present “Petite Grounds”, a group exhibition that includes works by Bubu de la Madeleine, Rina Banerjee, Chen Wei, Masanori Handa, Tsuyoshi Hisakado, Hilmi...Read moreWorks on Paper
Maria Farrar, Masanori Handa, Tsuyoshi Hisakado, Zai Kuning, Yayoi Kusama, Nobuaki Takekawa, Tang Dixin, Xu Danqing5 Aug - 30 Sep 2023SingaporeOta Fine Arts Singapore is delighted to present 'Works on paper', a group exhibition including works by Maria Farrar, Masanori Handa, Tsuyoshi Hisakado, Zai Kuning, Yayoi Kusama, Nobuaki Takekawa, Tang...Read moreZhao Yao | Masanori Handa
Zhao Yao, Masanori Handa25 Feb - 8 Apr 2023TokyoOta Fine Arts is delighted to present a duo exhibition featuring Zhao Yao and Masanori Handa.Read more
Beijing-based artist Zhao Yao will showcase his work for the first time in Japan. In A Painting of Thought III-431 (2014), he visualizes the process of thinking by painting diagrams from business books onto a canvas. A tent in which Tibetan monks meditate in the mountains is imitated in Signals from Heaven – A Call to Men (2018). By playing TED Lectures which represent contemporary intelligence inside the tent, Zhao questions the concept of knowledge that is required in religion and the real world.
Masanori Handa, on the other hand, captures the places that appear as fissures between perception and reality. The four monitors placed around Zhao’s tent showcase Handa's first video work which was shown at the Hawai’i Triennial 2022. Composed of fixed-point videos of seascapes of Hawai’i and Japan, the work impresses with its abstract and poetic beauty through the use of artificial colours.
We invite all to explore the artworks of two artists from Japan and China who are re-examining what it means to know, to think, and to feel.
ART021 Shanghai 2024
Booth C06 23 Oct 2024Ota Fine Arts is delighted to present works by artists Yayoi Kusama, Chen Wei, Maria Farrar, Mannat Gandotra, Masanori Handa, Hilmi Johandi, Chris Huen Sin-Kan,...Read moreMasanori Handa
"The Rolex Arts Festival", The National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST)Project Room 1 & 2,Greece 24 May 2023Masanori Handa will participate in the group exhibition, 'The Rolex Arts Festival, at The National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST) Project Room 1 &...Read moreMasanori Handa
"A matter of Scale and Perspective" AGAS, Online 16 Apr 2022Ota Fine Arts is participating in AGAS’ first online exhibition 'A Matter of Scale and Perspective', which launched on Friday, 15th April and runs until...Read moreTsuyoshi Hisakado & Masanori Handa
Hawai‘i Triennal 2022: Pacific Century – E Ho‘omau no Moananuiākea 26 Feb 2022Tsuyoshi Hisakado and Masanori Handa will paticipate in Hawai‘i Triennal 2022 : Pacific Century – E Ho‘omau no Moananuiākea in Hawaii from 18th February to...Read more