Dates｜September 2 – October 1, 2017
Venue｜MEM map
Open hours｜12:00-20:00　Closed on Mondays [Tue. if the Mon. is a public holiday]
Tel｜+81 (0)3-6459-3205

[Opening Reception]
After the talk event on September 2nd.

[TALK EVENT]
Guest speaker｜Hiroshi Mizuta (the artist) and Akio Seki (Chief of curatorial section, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum)
Date & Time｜September 2nd (Sat.) 18:00〜
Venue｜MEM (Admission free, Japanese version only)

When I tap my finger on freshly stretched canvas, it sounds good like a drum. But when you begin painting there the sound gradually becomes dull, as the canvas sags from the strength of brushstrokes and the weight of paint. It is as if this phenomenon indicates the fact that something lost while painting. Things like presence and the original nature are lost when something becomes a painting.
It can be said the most critical part of painting is how to make best use of those lost things. Neither canvas nor painting, how to keep a condition attractive that is free from any interpretation before the canvas becomes just a painting is very important in making good work.
However, is the common territory of the painter really only there? I wonder, it is necessary to always be cautious, while afraid of loosing too much by over-drawing? For my part, I am looking outside of the painting process for the means to break away from the constraints of painting like this, before the canvas has been stretched over a wooden frame or just after it has become a painting.
If there is a way of painting without the fear of canvas becoming a silent drum, what on earth is it?

Hiroshi Mizuta