“The 14th shiseido art egg ” Taishi Nishi Exhibition in Shiseido Gallery

The solo exhibition “GHOST DEMO” by Taishi Nishi, one of the three winners of the open program “The 14th Shiseido Art Egg” is now being held at the Shiseido Gallery.
The open program “Shiseido Art Egg” was launched in 2006 and continues as an initiative to support fresh and up-and-coming artists. This program truly embodies the Shiseido Gallery’s philosophy of “Discovering and creating new value”, which has been maintained since its opening in 1919.
Although it is an open program, one of the main features of this program is that selected artists are provided with the opportunity to organize their exhibitions in collaboration with curators, similar to the regular exhibitions held at the Shiseido Gallery. The main highlight of this exhibition is that the artist’s world view is developed through paintings and an installation with sculptures in a large underground space unique to Shiseido Gallery.

An exciting “introduction” that is rare in Tokyo
You can also take the elevator to the Shiseido Gallery on the basement floor, but we recommend going down the stairs if possible. You’ll be excited to see what you’ll find with each step you take down, but you’ll also be thrilled that you’re heading to a slightly secretive place. We rarely see the structure of these buildings in galleries and museums in Tokyo, which creates an “introduction” that is unique to Shiseido Gallery.
The first pieces that jump out at you on the stairway landing are “Lucid Dream Guide (2018)” and “Drops of Light Floating on the Sea (2018),” which seem to anticipate at the worldview that is expanding ahead.

A fun aspect of contemporary art, finding the point of resonance between the artist and yourself.
One of the joys of appreciating the works of a living artist is that you are encountering an expression created by someone who lived in the same era as you. In other words, not a little of what the artist feels and thinks about when he or she comes into contact with the experiences and information of everyday life is in the background of his or her expression. We, the viewers, also live and feel the same way in Japan and as we view the works of art, isn’t it fun to feel and look for things that resonate with the artist?

Although there are a number of things that make Mr. Nishi’s work so appealing, among them, I think it’s unique in that we can feel what we can resonate with straight away, so we can get into the world view more and more without having to read the intention of the work in detail.
The dark-tone paintings based on black have impenetrable swirling lines on the front and motifs that evoke wind, flames, and the momentum of the bushes, which make you feel uneasy and unbalanced. These lines and motifs are the main part that we tend to resonate with, and at such times, many people will associate with COVID-19. However, the characters and GHOST depicted in the painting look somewhat idyllic and seem to have nothing to do with the tension in the real world, so I feel that Mr. Nishi is probably looking at things from a wider perspective.

Mr. Nishi’s work operates under the themes of the borders between fiction and reality and anonymity. He says “In today’s society where we can easily learn about the events of the world, I take the unrealistic sensations and sense of discomfort I receive from the texts and images spread on the Internet as a starting point and transform them into works of art, weaving in my own experiences and memories”. Mr. Nishi’s pursuit of reality is facilitated by his restructuring of the world’s overflowing information, into which he weaves his own experiences and memories- that’s what makes it resonate and resonate with the viewer.

Installation work with a live feeling
Mr. Nishi’s paintings are full of storytelling as if you were watching a scene from a movie. The installation work in the back of the gallery is a fun space that makes you feel like you are visiting his movie’s making studio. Black objects made of ceramic, sculptures made by soaking ceramic clay into clothes and firing them, and figures wearing sweaters for some reason are placed in the space, and like his paintings with rough brushstrokes, they are very rough, but at the same time, they are live installations. It also heightens the anticipation when you come to this gallery, because when you take the stairs down, you can look down at this installation work from the landing.
Why don’t you come and visit the unique worldview where painting and installation work are loosely combined?