Portrait of the Artist — Exhibition Celebrating the Publication of MK
About Exhibition
Who would have predicted that in the 21st century, an artist would paint a horse with a paintbrush in its mouth? However, this is a motif that demands to be painted now more than ever. (MK, p.140, Kenjiro Hosaka, ‘An Essay on Masato Kobayashi’.)
ShugoArts will hold Masato Kobayashi’s solo exhibition starting on Saturday, December 7, to celebrate the publication of MK, his highly anticipated monograph.
MK is Masato Kobayashi’s first comprehensive collection of his works. [Publisher: HeHe, Text: Kenjiro Hosaka, Design: Satoshi Suzuki]
This substantial book, with over 300 pages despite its compact size, allows readers to trace the consistent evolution of Kobayashi’s paintings over the past 40 years, from his early works created during his university years to those produced in Kunitachi(Tokyo), Ghent(Belgium), Tomonoura(Hiroshima), and Toride(Ibaraki).
At ShugoArts in Roppongi, the exhibition will focus on new works from Kobayashi’s ongoing Portrait of the Artist series, which he has been working on for the past five years.
On the opening day, December 7, Masato Kobayashi will welcome visitors with his new works and the monograph MK.
ShugoArts, November 2024
Masato KOBAYASHI, Artist and the Model, 2024, oil, canvas, wood, 315x220x47cm
Masato Kobayashi and Kenjiro Hosaka (Director, Shiga Museum of Art)
Satoshi Suzuki
ShugoArts and HeHe
9,000 yen (excl. VAT)
178×235 mm / 328 pages / Hard Cover
Japanese / English
978-4-908062-62-9 C0070
To be released in early December 2024
Includes Masato Kobayashi’s new drawing (size: 19.5×13.5cm, material: paper, pencil), framed, and the book “MK”, presented in a special box
120,000 JPY (excl. VAT)
Information
7 December, 2024 – 1 February, 2025
28 December – 6 January
ShugoArts
11am ‒ 6pm, Closed on Sun, Mon and Public Holidays
Saturday, 7 December 4pm – 6pm
ShugoArts
Related Exhibition & Event
Masato Kobayashi × Kenjiro Hosaka (Director, Shiga Museum of Art)
19 January, 2025 5pm – 6:30 pm
GINZA TSUTAYA BOOKS, BOOK EVENT SPACE
Masato Kobayashi was born in Tokyo in 1957. He was the Japanese representative of the 1996 São Paulo Bienniale. In 1997, invited by Jan Hoet, he traveled to Europe, and continued to create works in various locations while based in Ghent, Belgium. Kobayashi returned to Japan in 2006 and began working based in Tomonoura, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima. He was also a professor at the Tokyo University of the Arts from 2017 to 2023. He has developed a unique technique of applying color by rubbing it into the canvas while supporting the fabric with one hand, simultaneously stretching it over the wooden frame to bring the painting to life and “aiming for a painting that does not lose its essence by merely existing.” Kobayashi has prolifically produced paintings that possess a form and unique brightness that can only emerge from that specific situation.
Selected solo exhibitions: “About Freedom”, ShugoArts, Tokyo, 2023; “Family of this Planet”, ShugoArts, Tokyo, 2021; “Artist and the Model”, ShugoArts, Tokyo, 2019; “ART TODAY 2012”, Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Nagano, 2012; “MASATO KOBAYASHI – The Paint of the Planet”, Nariwa Museum, Okayama, 2009; “Starry Paint, stars of outer space by pure painting”, Tensta Konsthall, Spanga, Sweden, 2004; “A Son of Painting Masato Kobayashi”, S.M.A.K., Ghent, 2001; “KOBAYASHI Masato”, The Miyagi Museum of Art, 2000.
Publications: Masato Kobayashi MK, HeHe, 2024; The autobiographical novel trilogy, Paint of this Planet—Under the tree at Hitotsubashi University, ART DIVER, 2018; Paint of this Planet—Duifhuisstraat 52, ART DIVER, 2020
Selected Public Collections: Iwaki City Art Museum (Iwaki, Japan). The Miyagi Museum of Art (Sendai, Japan). The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan). The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan). Utsunomiya Museum of Art (Utsunomiya, Japan). S.M.A.K. The Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (Ghent, Belgium). The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum (Shizuoka, Japan)