The Highly Anticipated First Retrospective in Asia! "Gordon Matta-Clark Exhibition" is Now On View | ART
ART | Featuring Approximately 200 Works, Including His First Exhibition in Japan
Active in the 1970s, He Continues to Inspire Followers Today
The Retrospective Exhibition of Artist Gordon Matta-Clark
The first retrospective exhibition in Asia of Gordon Matta-Clark, an artist active primarily in New York during the 1970s, is on view at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, until Monday, September 17, 2018.
Text by OZAKI Sayaka
Art, Architecture, Street Culture, Food, and More
A Pioneer Whose Influence Continues Across Many Fields
Gordon Matta-Clark was an artist born in New York in 1943, active in the 1970s.
Though he was active in diverse fields such as art, architecture, street culture, and food, and passed away at the age of 35, his work continues to inspire followers worldwide.
The first major retrospective of Gordon Matta-Clark in Asia is currently being held at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
In the 1970s, a period of explosive global economic growth, Matta-Clark explored how art could contribute to the creation of rich communities, through themes of consumption cycles and energy circulation in urban life.
Gordon Matta-Clark Photo: Cosmos Andrew Sarchiapone © The Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark; Courtesy The Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark and David Zwirner, New York/London/Hong Kong.
His light, cool, and poetic ideas offer various hints for each of us to consider what we can do now to live richly.
The exhibition focuses on "place," which was important to Matta-Clark as an artist working in urban settings, and is structured into five sections: "Home," "Street," "Pier," "Market," and "Museum." Approximately 200 works are on display, including sculptures, films, drawings, and related materials. Notably, the largest-scale three-dimensional work from his "Building Cuts" series, which involved cutting sections out of buildings, Splitting: Four Corners, makes its first appearance in Japan, allowing visitors to view this precious work, which rarely left the United States, within the country.
The venue also features a "playground" concept with workshops and participatory Instagram events. The exhibition space is constructed using materials not typically found in museum galleries, such as corrugated metal walls, chain-link fences, and colorful nets, with elements designed to immerse visitors in the urban environment where Matta-Clark lived. Furthermore, materials illustrating the cultural and social context of New York in the 1970s, as well as materials related to contemporary Tokyo, are exhibited, highlighting the contemporary relevance of Matta-Clark's practice within the evolving modern city.
Splitting, 1974 Gordon Matta-Clark Estate & David Zwirner (New York) © The Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark; Courtesy The Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark and David Zwirner, New York/London/Hong Kong.
Graffiti: Soul Power, 1973 Gordon Matta-Clark Estate & David Zwirner (New York) © The Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark; Courtesy The Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark and David Zwirner, New York/London/Hong Kong.
Gordon Matta-Clark Exhibition
Dates: Until Monday, September 17, 2018
Venue: The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Address: 3-1 Kitanomaru-koen, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Hours: 10:00–17:00 (Fridays and Saturdays until 21:00) *Last admission 30 minutes before closing
Closed: Mondays (Open on September 17)
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Tel. 03-5777-8600 (Hello Dial)
http://www.momat.go.jp/am/exhibition/gmc/