TIME & STYLE MIDTOWN will present the work of Kazutoshi Shimuta in the upcoming exhibition “ART IN TIME & STYLE MIDTOWN VOL. 22: Torso on the Box.”

When TIME & STYLE operated TIME & STYLE HOME in Jiyugaoka (Tokyo), “T&S Gallery,” which introduced refined contemporary art of the time, was attached to the store. This gallery was the setting of many artists’ solo and group exhibitions. One particularly striking show featured a superb, tension-filled installation by Kazutoshi Shimuta.

With the opening of TIME & STYLE MIDTOWN, the exhibition venue was relocated to this new store, and thus became a setting that also calls for awareness of showing art together with furniture and interior design. What sorts of scenes will come about when Mr. Shimuta’s installations are dropped into this unique place for art exhibitions? We encourage you to come and experience this space for yourself.

(Planning by Banana Art)

Making a torso with the shape that is created by stacking six cases on three levels (two cases each) is an idea I’ve had for around ten years. I drew pictures and refined the images, and tried making them three-dimensional using various methods, but I didn’t arrive at a point where I made them works of art. The reason I held on to this idea anyway, I think, is that the image of a torso-like figure (a body that never asserts or expresses itself) is a central part of my interest in creating art.

In this work, “Torso on the Box,” the torso and the box are equally important elements. The box stores and houses the torso; it’s also a pedestal for displaying the torso. But this alone is not what gives it the same importance as the torso. The reason it’s important is that, from the beginning, I’ve envisioned an exhibition in which the torso is in a contained state. What does this mean?

Compared to the torso being placed on a box (i.e., pedestal), I think a situation where the torso is contained inside a box is more likely to inspire visitors—and me—to imagine a slightly wider world around the work. And I think this can lead people to reflect on the possibilities of other places and times, and on other ways of being. By making this the landing point, I was finally able to turn the torso into a work of art.

For this exhibition, on the other hand, the venue already has furniture on display, so I didn’t think it was appropriate for that method and decided not to use it. With regard to the state of storage in boxes, I used “11 Torsos in the Boxes” in the direct mail photo. Previously I’ve carried out this method of displaying torsos that are stored in boxes numerous times, as part of the series of works called “pious colors.”

(Kazutoshi Shimuta)

Profile

1957    Born in Fukuoka

1982    Graduated from the Painting Department (Oil Painting program) of Tokyo University of the Arts

1986    Completed Mural Painting Course 2 at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School

1988     Studied on a DAAD scholarship with Prof. Franz Erhard Walther at the University of Fine Arts
Hamburg (Germany)

1991    Withdrew from Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School after completing all doctoral
coursework

Principal exhibitions

1991   Solo exhibition / Chinretsukan Gallery, Tokyo University of the Arts

           Solo exhibition / Gallery Myu

           Group Exhibition: “Poetics of Hue” / Kawasaki City Museum

1992    Solo exhibition / Morris Gallery

            Group exhibition: “1st TRANSART ANNUAL” / Yokohama Business Park

1993    Solo exhibition / Gallery gen

            Solo exhibition / Morris Gallery

1994    Solo exhibition / Gallery Myu

1996    Solo exhibition / Gallery 360°

            Group exhibition: “Requiem – Koji Enokura and 33 Artists” / Saito Memorial Kawaguchi Museum of
Contemporary Art

1997    Group exhibition: “The Locked Room” [o1] / Gallery Myu

            Solo exhibition / Akiyama Art Gallery

1998    Solo exhibition / Kamakura Ntei

2000    Group exhibition: “Framing” / GALERIA RASEN

            Solo exhibition / T&S Gallery

2001    Group exhibition: “Extending the boundaries of painting: exploration of color” / Sakura City
Museum of Art

            Group exhibition: “Field of Emergence/Drawing” / Chinretsukan Gallery, Tokyo University
of the Arts

2002     Solo exhibition: “Overflowing Carnation” [o2] / TIME & STYLE GALLERIA

2003     Group exhibition / Gallery appel

2005     Solo exhibition / Plaza Gallery

             Group exhibition: “DJ Brand” / The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts

            Solo exhibition: “TORSOHOUSE (idle village)[o3] ” / T&S Gallery

2006    Group exhibition: “LVRFI” / Studio ONO

            Solo exhibition / Akiyama Art Gallery

2008    Group exhibition / TIME & STYLE MIDTOWN

            Group exhibition: “LVRFI” / T&S Gallery

2009    Solo exhibition / void+

            Solo exhibition: “16 × 24 Pious Colors” / Akiyama Art Gallery

            Solo exhibition: “Torsohouse – The Morning after the Flood[o4] ” / T&S Gallery

2011    Group exhibition: “100 Years of Art in Matsudo” [o5] / Matsudo Museum