6 September–13 October 2012
Galerie Geukens & De Vil
Pourbusstraat 19, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Hours: Thu–Sat, 2–6pm
geukensdevil [at] skynet.be
www.geukensdevil.com
“Art to me is a tool that connects me to the world.
My work is born out of the intermittent interaction I have with others and society. In fact, I am primarily interested in its process as a catalyst for creation.
The approach I have taken in the past few years has been to travel, to share or to borrow things temporarily and to attempt to share myself with others. This process concludes when the work presents to the viewer a series of objects, photographs or installations, which are spatially and physically tied to the contexts of each place.
Like the birds that migrate from one place to another, I stay on the move. Wherever I land, by getting to know a new culture, taking in the colours and scents of the place and by interacting with local people, even the most unremarkable things start to look totally different to my eyes. I believe it is my role as an artist to get in there and be involved.
This exhibition consists of works created around the idea of a community and its ambiguity, which poses a question between ‘Private’ and ‘Public.’”
(Written by Masashi Echigo, 2012, translated by Mie Nagai)
Geukens & De Vil is pleased to present, for his first solo show in the gallery in Antwerp, Japanese artist Masashi Echigo. Over the past few years, he has lived and spent lengthy periods of time in numerous cities in the world: Helsinki, Finland; Dublin, Ireland; Jogjakarta, Indonesia; Toyama, Japan and Ghent, Belgium, participating in collective shows and projects.
Each experience in each place is represented by individual installations that are spatially and emotionally tied to their context. In the Antwerp exhibition each installation, even though conceived independently, enters into a dialogue with the others, thus constructing a unique narrative landscape that is in the process of evolution, serving as evidence of his travels.
Masashi Echigo was born in Toyama, Japan in 1982 and currently lives and works in Ghent, Belgium and Toyama, Japan. Past exhibitions include Sint-Jan, Saint-Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent (2012) curated by Jan Hoet and Hans Martens; Dublin Contemporary 2011, Dublin (2011) curated by Jota Castro and Christian Viveros-Fauné; HIAP Cable gallery, HIAP, Helsinki (2011) curated by Marita Muukkonen; The National Gallery of Modern & Contemporary Art, Rome (2010) curated by Angelandreina Rorro; and Factory Kunsthalle, Krems, Austria (2009) curated by Hartwig Knack.
For further information, please contact
geukensdevil [at] skynet.be.
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