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Shigeru HASEGAWA “SCARECROW”


2023.07.22 – 09.02
Opening hour: 12.00-18.00
Closed on Sun, Mon, National holiday, between 08.12 – 21

Scarecrow

Almost half a century ago, maybe when I was in junior high school (my memory is hazy), I watched a movie starring Al Pacino and Gene Hackman. It was a dismal tale of a couple of scruffy vagabonds drifting around rural America, and the title, Scarecrow, somehow stuck in my mind. The English word meant nothing to me at the time, and perhaps I was simply drawn to the sound. The film portrayed the misery and rage of outcasts, men who society scorned as hoodlums or drunken bums, and it conveyed the atmosphere of present-day America, which seemed extremely remote and exciting to a Japanese kid from the sticks. At that time many movies coming out of the West revolved around outlaw stories like this, and I think they may have had a profound impact on my adolescent mentality.

It was not until much later that I learned the meaning of “scarecrow,” which is kakashi in Japanese. After that, when I was in art school, I saw The Wizard of Oz, and the brainless scarecrow character made a lasting impression on me. I’m not sure why this was, but it may have resonated with some void or absence I perceived within myself. I may have unconsciously projected myself onto that straw man. I think it was around that time that I finally made the connection between kakashi and “scarecrow.”

Be that as it may, when used in a metaphorical sense the implications of the word are rarely positive. We picture a lonely outcast standing around idly, someone useless and incompetent despite having a designated duty to fulfill.

In Japan at least, actual scarecrows in fields are often mishmashes of junk and old worn-out clothing, made without craft or attention to detail and barely registering as humanoid figures. At the same time, a vaguely humanoid form is really their only defining feature. For the past ten years or so, I’ve been strangely fascinated by these hollow and senseless entities.

Two years ago, I had a solo show and took the title of one of the works from Millet’s painting The Sower. It was just a title without any deep meaning, and it didn’t signify the things that motivated Millet, like devout faith or empathy with farmers. I depicted a purposeless humanoid figure made by piling up or binding together vegetables, fish, sticks and stones. A being without a brain, a heart, or a narrative. In a way it was like a scarecrow. The cobbled-together figure in the painting had outstretched hands, in a pose reminiscent of a sower.

The sower and the scarecrow… it fit together nicely.

What we in Japan describe as art or painting, including the modern and contemporary variety, to this day is mostly nothing more than a patchwork of imitations of the West, a hollow and superficial sham. It’s a constant effort to conform to overseas values, to create works that feel safe and familiar to both the artist and the viewer, who are in a relationship of cozy complicity.

These things look the part, but they lack substance. For as long as anyone can remember, they’ve been like stuffed scarecrows with no real substance. Maybe this is why I feel drawn to scarecrows.

At the edge of the field where the seeds of Western art were sown, there stands an empty and worthless scarecrow, patched together from cast-off scraps… this is the scene I picture in my mind’s eye.

Shigeru HASEGAWA

 

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Art Collaboration Kyoto

We will be participating in Art Collaboration Kyoto.

Dates: Friday, November 5–Sunday, November 7, 2021
Preview: Thursday, November 4 *by invitation only
Hours: Friday, November 5 noon–7pm
Saturday, November 6 noon–7pm
Sunday, November 7 noon–5pm
*Please note that the last entrance is 1 hour before closing

more information → Art Collaboration Kyoto

Naoya HIRATA participating the exhibition “TAMPA”

Date:12-28 August, 2021
Venue: The 5th Floor
Opening Hours:13:00-19:00
Reservation requested


Yoshinori NIWA participating the exhibition “Rules?”

Date: July 2 (Fri) – November 28 (Sun), 2021
Venue: 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT Gallery 1&2
Opening Hours: 11:00-17:00 on Weekdays, 11:00-18:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays
Closed on Tuesdays (Except November 23)


Shigeru HASEGAWA “memento mori” at Shouonji temple

Period: 2021.04.02-18
Venue: Shouonji temple 3-23-20 Misonocho, Kodaira-city, Tokyo
Opening hour: 12:00~18:00
Closed on Tues. Wed.
Admission free
Information: TEL042-341-2935
mail:info@shouonji.jp
Cooperation: S.O.C. Satoko Oe Contemporary

SHIGERU HASEGAWA
Born in 1963. 1988 completed Aichi University of the Arts, M.A. Went over to Germany, completed Kunstakademie Dusseldorf, M.A. in 1992, then went to Netherlands, Stayed at De Ateliers in Amsterdam between 1992-1994. Came back to Japan, and energetically had many solo shows. One of the painters of the “New Figurative Painting” together with Yoshitomo NARA, Hiroshi SUGITO, Takanobu KOBAYASHI, Masahiko KUWAHARA, and O JUN in 90s. At the same time, HASEGAWA was running T&S Gallery (Meguro, Tokyo) and curated the shows, introducing the young/emerging artists there. HASEGAWA stayed and worked in Amsterdam in 2003-2004. Dynamic brush stroke of the big sized painting influenced by the medieval, indoor painting is iconic character of the Hasegawa’s painting at that time.

However HASEGAWA stopped showing his works gradually and completed stopped showing after the show “HUMOR and LEAP of THOUGHT – Far beyond our recognizable world” at Okazaki Mindscape Museum, Aichi in 2013. Restarted showing his works after the solo show of “PAINTING” at Satoko Oe Contemporary in 2019, and consistently looking for the real nature of “painting”.

NADA Miami/ TOKYO

2020.12.02 – 13
12:00 – 17:00 / Closed on Mon. Tue.
VIP Preview : 2020. 11. 29(12:00 – 17:00/ invitation only)
Participating galleries:MISAKO & ROSEN, KAYOKOYUKI, Satoko Oe Contemporary, XYZ collective, 4649, im labor

NADA Miami 2020 edition will be held in the 44 different cities all over the world. Tokyo edition will be held at MISAKO & ROSEN with 6 galleries gathered.
We will show the new works of Luca COSTA (b.1989), the imaginary Argentine artist. We look forward to seeing you at the fair! or at online!

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Opened on 13th February, 2016

1F, 3-18-8 Shirakawa, Koto, Tokyo 135-0021

03-5809-9517

Tuesday – Saturday 12.00 – 18.00
Closed on Sunday, Monday, Public holidays

info@satokooe.com

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