ShugoArts

Anju MICHELE

Imaginarium

2020.6.20 Sat - 7.18 Sat

ShugoArts is pleased to announce the opening of Imaginarium by Anju Michele which is going to be on view from Saturday, June 20. Our gallery will be open from noon to 6pm to prioritize everyone’s safety.

Anju Michele Imaginarium
Saturday, 20 June ‒ Saturday, 18 July, 2020
Venue: ShugoArts, complex665 2F, 6-5-24, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032
Opening Hours: Tue-Sat noon-6pm, closed on Sun, Mon and Public Holidays
*The opening reception will not be held this time.

Curated by Minako Ishii

List of Works
Press Release PDF

 

Anju Michele  Works and Bio  Library

------------------------------------------------------------

 

installation movie

 

 

Born and brought up in Venice, Michele scrutinizes the relentless real world and follows the creative voice that wells up in his mind to unceasingly produce paintings relying on his particular body with hearing impairment and his spirit protected by a shelter of self-consciousness. The artistʼs mind and body are inseparable from the world represented in his works and his expressions are truly “of life.” He captures views of nature he sees in clear-cut, nonhesitant brushwork in one brief session. The artist himself contributed the following words to this work. *

Chie Sumiyoshi

 

Born in 1989, Anju Michele currently lives and works in Kyoto. Thanks to his unparalleled creativity since his childhood, the artist captures the scenes in front of him and instantaneously converts the information into the act of painting. His discernment in terms of grasping various forms and his speed has been more sophisticated than ever, and it has become the foundation of his art practice. It is difficult to pursue one’s true self and expression while being detached from the conceptual world. However, Anju could create his art easily under such conditions as if light and wind passed by plants and flowers by leaving their marks on them.

Imaginarium, the title of his first solo exhibition at ShugoArts, is a word created by Anju, meshing “imagination” and “-arium,” which represents a place in Latin. Anju Michele’s paintings, in which his imagination gives birth to his creation, implies the fact that we humans are innately free.

In circle, which was just completed this March, Anju painted circles, so softly that they look like they are floating, on a piece of aluminum paper that he has utilized lately. Those circles seem to be wide-open mouths, which could be entrances to various spatio-temporal worlds, or planets observing our world from different dimensions; they are beautiful as they exist there. In this exhibition, the artist presents close to twenty-four new artworks all at once. Please visit us to experience Anju Michele’s Imaginarium.

May 2020, ShugoArts

 

*Chie Sumiyoshi “Anju Michele” (VOCA2020, The Ueno Royal Museum, 2020, p.26) Translated by Kikuko Ogawa

 

Anju Michele, wave, 2020, oil on aluminum paper mounted on panel, 60x60cm

 

Anju Michele  realm of light
Wednesday, 10 June ‒ Tuesday, 14 July, 2020
Venue:ISETAN SALONE, Tokyo Midtown Galleria 1F, 9 -7-4 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052
Opening hours:11am-7pm (until 14 June), 11am-8pm (from 15 June)
Supported by ShugoArts

This is Anju Michele’s first solo exhibition at ISETAN SALONE. It will be great if you can check out the exhibition too. *Please check with us before visiting the venue.

 

Publishing IMAGINARIUM, a Collection of New Art Works by Anju Michele

This collection includes about eighty artworks that Michele created in Kyoto from 2017 to 2020. By mainly showcasing the series in which the artist painted on aluminum paper that is used to produce silver thread, which is used in the textile industry in Kyoto, this collection exhibits Anju’s creativity to its full extent.

Author: Anju Michele
Publisher: Tre Isole Co., Ltd.
Date of publication TBA
Text: Akira Tatehata
Book design: Atsuki Kikuchi
Format: B5 deformed

IMAGINARIUM will be available at ShugoArts’ gallery space in Roppongi as well as bookstores. Please take a moment to look through when you find a copy. We are going to announce its price, publication date and other details on our website as soon as they become available to us.

Anju Michele, floating organism, 2020, oil on Japanese paper mounted on panel, 65x65cm

 

Top image: Anju Michele, circle, 2020, oil on aluminum paper mounted on panel, 125x120cm

All Photo by Yasushi Ichikawa