KOSAKU KANECHIKA is pleased to present Noritaka Tatehanaʼs solo exhibition “Descending Painting” from September 4 to October 9, 2021.

Since his 2018 exhibition “Beyond the Vanishing Point,” Noritaka Tatehana has made use of aspects of perspective representation, such as the vanishing point and boundary lines, to study elements linking the two different perspectives of shigan, literally “this side (of the river),” denoting our world, and taigan, “the other side (of the river),” the other world. In his 2020 exhibition “Dual Dialogue,” he presented works that incorporated two different perspectives in a single work in his Duality Painting series.

This exhibition introduces Tatehanaʼs new Descending Painting series, which incorporates a multi-layered form of expression. In addition to being the product of the artistʼs study of paintings with a three-dimensional aspect, the work is an expression of his keen interest in perspective. This study has also led to Tatehanaʼs unique　understanding of birdʼs-eye-views, such as those represented in the Edo era screen paintings Rakuchu Rakugai Zu (Scenes in and around the Capital). Tatehanaʼs concept is to represent both the foreground and background spaces in inverse perspective using multiple layers in the painting as a method of expressing the perspective (vanishing point) of a birdʼs-eye-view image ‒ which is located outside the painting. This technique is also used in his new Descending Layer works, which employ several layers of glass.

Tatehana provided the following statement about the exhibition.
　
I have used my art to explore perspectives for reflecting on myself. Life and death, memory and reality. Myself and others.

New values on “the other side” link the two perspectives.
　
Tatehanaʼs new Descending Painting series, from which the title for this exhibition was derived, was inspired by Raigo-zu ‒ images depicting Amida Buddha and a host of Bodhisattvas descending on a cloud to meet the faithful at their moment of death. In Tatehanaʼs version of Raigo-zu, the figures of Amida Buddha and the Bodhisattvas are replaced with bolts of lightning. In the Shinto religion, the motif of lightning is often used as a way to symbolize the attraction of divine spirits to yorishiro (objects or animals that attract divine spirits to themselves). Tatehanaʼs works, which present a uniquely Japanese view of life and death from the perspective of life, death, and the boundary that separates them, is an example of the syncretic fusion of Shintoism and Buddhism, which embraces values of both religions.

Tatehanaʼs creative process centers around presenting new perspectives and worldviews by combining traditional values held in high regard by old Japan with contemporary cultural elements, and posing the question of whether they serve modern-day people.

We currently live at a time that calls for us to stop and view things from a different perspective. What hints can we take away from Tatehanaʼs art that will allow us to move forward? Noritaka Tatehanaʼs solo exhibition “Descending Painting” presents approximately 35 new works with new insights to be found.

Noritaka Tatehana

Noritaka Tatehana was born in Tokyo in 1985. His family ran a public bathhouse called “Kabuki-yu” in Kabuki-cho, Tokyo, while he grew up in Kamakura, Japan. As a small child and under the influence of his mother, a doll artist who practices the Waldorf education method, the artist learned to create with his own hands. Tatehana graduated in 2010 from the Department of Crafts at Tokyo University of the Arts, specializing in textile arts. While researching the culture associated with traditional Japanese courtesans, the artist created ‘geta’ (traditional wooden clogs) and kimonos with ‘yūzen’ – a traditional Japanese dyeing technique. Tatehana has presented his work in exhibitions such as “Image Makers” (21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, 2014) and “Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion” (The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2012). He has also held various solo exhibitions which include “NORITAKA TATEHANA: Aesthetics of Magic” (Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum, 2016), “It’s always the others who die” (POLA Museum Annex, 2019), and “NORITAKA TATEHANA: Refashioning Beauty” (Portland Japanese Garden, 2019) amongst others held in New York, Paris, and Belgium. Tatehana has also worked on a wide range of projects, including producing a bunraku performance in 2016 at the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Arts in Paris. His works have been acquired by internationally acclaimed institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In 2021, Tatehana directed the online exhibition “Edo Tokyo Rethink” (The Marquis Hosokawa Mansion, Wakeijuku) an event organized by the city of Tokyo as part of its cultural program “Edo Tokyo Kirari Project” to exhibit new works with a focus on traditional crafts and industries of Tokyo.