Takao Minami: Difference Between
Takao Minami is participating in the exhibition "19th DOMANI - The Art of Tomorrow" at The National Art Center, Tokyo, sponsored by Japanese Government Agency for Cultural Affairs. In association with "DOMANI", Ota Fine Arts is delighted to present Minami's solo exhibition "Difference Between", marking his 4th solo exhibition at Ota Fine Arts. This video installation work will be shown for the first time in Japan.
"Difference Between" (2014) is a dual-channel video work composed by the sounds and video images recorded by the artist in the Malay Peninsula. The artwork title 'Difference Between' reflects Minami's recent interest in capturing the transforming sceneries from multiple locations, re-composing them into a smooth continuation of changing images. For the video images, Minami extracted the forms and movements from the original record and reduced the color and light into a distinctive color, which he derived from the '8-Bit Era' of early television and video color bars. These fragments will be recomposed into one video installation. Similarly, the soundtrack of the installation is created by reduplications of ordinary sounds from his field record.
The two screens in the installation possess reversed color to each other like a negative-positive of a photo, and they gradually scroll from bottom to top, at times synchronizing and other times shifting untimely. In composing the screen, Minami refers to a collage technique and images of scroll paintings from Southern Sung period. By conjoining and ablating various images with effectively placed blank spaces, the continuous flow of sounds and images successfully illustrate the Malay Peninsula through a vastly different presentation from conventional documentary.
In "DOMANI", Minami presents his latest work "Medi" - a 6-channel video work, and sculptures. The video work carries the same conception and approach described above; but "Medi" shifts its subject to his journey in the area along the Mediterranean Sea. For this exhibition, Minami challenges to develop his presentation into an architectural installation by using free-standing white walls as screens to exhibit his new work. It is a great opportunity to experience Takao Minami's interpretation of cultures across borders in recent years. We would love for you to visit the group exhibition at the National Art Center, Tokyo as well as Minami's solo exhibition at the gallery.
