Artist profile – TADASHI KAWAMATA

Tadashi Kawamata was born in 1953 on the island of Hokkaido and is one of the most outstanding Japanese artists who has been winning international acclaim since 1980. Since first exhibiting his work in 1977, Tadashi Kawamata has produced a large amount ofsculpture, tree houses, showpiece for exhibition and projects all over the world. What strikes me is the type of work he was doing in between 1980 and 1990 which i think was too advanced for his time.

 Nowadays, Arne Quinze is creating similar work in fluorescent shades of colors ,with a lot more media coverage, but if you look at it a little bit more, those guys work is not far apart, nowadays Kawamata is creating all sorts of Urban tree house from Art bezel in Miami to Versailles, constructing little houses attached to a building , an electric pole or some lonely urban tree, one word, genius.

He has exhibited in the most prestigious galleries worldwide (projects in Paris, London, Toronto, Huston, New York), and participated in the Venice Biennial, documenta in Kassel and Biennial in Sao Paulo, to mention just a few.

Kawamata creates projects which border on installation and architecture, his artistic interventions are focused on urban sites. The artist refers to the relationship between the artistic creation /material/ existing space, by composing the work into the existing environment and building a structural connection.

Kawamata’s works are ingenious simulations of urban situations – roads, bridges, passages, “private” spaces – they are unreal, unrealistic and non-functional objects. The artist relates to the urban chaos of modern cities which is invisible at first glance because it is hidden behind rational, planned structures. Kawamata builds over existing urban objects, facades and interiors with complicated labyrinths of scaffolding, creating a resemblance of architectural “cancer”. He defies the rules of logic and symmetry, the laws of architectural rhythm and multi-level hierarchy, questioning the systems of habits linked to utility and aesthetics. His projects provoke associations with the polymorphous and equivocal nature of fractals.

Kawamata also introduces other elements into his installations, which are derived from the specific nature of the sites where he builds his objects. In France he built works with the use of thousands of chairs. In the old synagogue in Metz (Les chaises de traverse, 1998) he installed a structure which penetrated from the outside to inside the architectural object. The installation was spread out in space, located at bus stops over a distance of 25 kilometres, with chairs which connected the installation site with the distant city centre. Kawamata’s projects which are currently implemented in Japan are strictly connected with the urban situation of cities and particular regions.

Last work are occupying the external façade of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. These timbers huts, which are lined with cardboard, attach on to the existing structural framework, like a parasite, and morph into something entirely new. These precariously hanging wooden huts strongly contrast  the highly technical aesthetic of Piano’s and Rogers’ facade.   “From his reflections on the architecture of the Pompidou Center, its location in the urban fabric, its intimate memory, the Japanese artist invests more locations within the Centre: the Children’s gallery, Forum and exterior facades,” explained the museum. “The artist modifies the space on which it operates, creating outgrowths as pods nestled in height, suspended walkways, observation posts, which disturb the established order and challenge our view of our environment.”

BIOGRAPHIE complete

Fonti:

_ The Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle  Al.Ujazdowskie 6, 00-461 Warsaw, Poland

_ http://www.archdaily.com/74126/pompidou’s-huts-tadashi-kawamata/