About the Exhibition
L’AUTRE FACE DE LA LUNE: An Unseen Mysterious World
The exhibition at Tomio Koyama Gallery Tennoz will consist of several sculptures, centering on new works from the “Beans Cosmos” series.
The “Beans Cosmos” series, which was first put into production in 2000, has continued to gradually evolve while deepening its context. Ever since I encountered beans and sensed their evocation of the cosmos, I have almost felt a kind of affection for them. Although beans are a modest food, they are nutritious and nourishing, and thus could be described as “poor yet rich.” Since ancient times they have appeared in various legends around the world as an ambivalent and enigmatic entity.
In this exhibition, I would like to use these tiny beans as a starting point for embarking on a small imaginative journey through an unseen mysterious world. People can embark on endless journeys by using their imagination, such as drawing connections between something as familiar as beans and the vast cosmos. Once upon a time, humankind had looked at the moon and wondered what lay on its other side which could never be seen.
In 1959, the Soviet probe ‘Luna 3’ succeeded in capturing the first photographs of the other side of the moon, making its observation possible. It revealed the appearance of this hidden lunar hemisphere, and was followed by subsequent exploration and research that elucidated the moon’s geology and gave rise to various hypotheses regarding its origins. Nevertheless, the mystery of the moon’s very existence remains a mystery.
There is nothing more mysterious than the unseen world that lies beyond our visible world. Like the curiosity of wishing to see “the other side of the moon” that could once never be seen, I try to seek out the vast cosmos and mysterious worlds within the context of ordinary everydayness. In this respect, my artistic practice never reaches a terminus or point of completion, but instead continues to deepen in an unfinished state.
As a related event, an exhibition commemorating the publication of my monograph will be held concurrently at Moriyama Shoten. In addition, the exhibition “A Journey of Citrus” held during the same period at the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum, is a small program that encourages visitors to engage with artworks by using their various senses, and while bringing particular focus to the sense of “smell,” introduces the on-going art project ‘Commons Farm.’ Through such artistic activities I wish to consider the new significance that works of art may harbor, as that something that generates new values for living, and provides spiritual enrichment.
Satoshi Hirose
About the Exhibits
Satoshi Hirose presents a series of interrelated exhibition programs in Japan this fall in four different locations: Tomio Koyama Gallery Tennoz, Nagano Prefectural Art Museum, Morioka Shoten, and Kinan Art Week (Art Project, Commons Farm). The exhibition at Tomio Koyama Gallery Tennoz consists of a selection of seven works.
➀ Untitled (Fonte del mondo), 2023
This new work from the “Beans Cosmos” series serves as the centerpiece of the exhibition.
Acrylic spheres of various sizes—“Beans Cosmos”—, are placed on an oval-shaped slab of white Carrara marble measuring approximately 1m in diameter, positioned in the center of the gallery space. The work envisions ideas to rise forth like water springing out from a fountain.
➁Beans Consmos, 2020
Installed on the wall to the right of the gallery entrance (Wall A) is the work Beans Cosmos.
➂ Untitled (The other side of the moon), 2023
On the left of the gallery entrance (Wall B), a geometric precise circle measuring 18cm in diameter and made of solid copper round bar, is installed above the wall. The sculpture serves as a metaphor for the “other side of the moon.”
➃ Untitled (Seed point), 2021
Three spatial drawings are presented on the wall facing the gallery entrance (Wall C).
➄ Untitled (Portrait), 2023
A work comprised of 19 “Beans Cosmos” pieces made of natural organic materials such as rattan, beeswax, and beans is installed on the wall along the right side of the gallery (Wall D). On the floor is a mass made of beeswax and beans, rendered in the shape of the palm of the hand.
⑥ Blue Moon, 2023
Installed on the left side of the gallery entrance (wall B) is a processed photograph of the moon taken by the artist on August 31, 2023.
Related Event
“The palm of the hand”
An exhibition commemorating the publication of the Satoshi Hirose’s monograph Pharmakon
Moriyama Shoten (Tuesday, December 5th – Sunday, December 10th, 2023)
● About the Exhibition
As a related event of the exhibition at Tomio Koyama Gallery Tennoz, an exhibition and book presentation will take place at Morioka Shoten to commemorate the publication of Satoshi Hirose’s monograph.
Titled “The palm of the hand,” the small exhibition at Moriyama Shoten, while drawing from the concept of a tiny bookstore of “a single room with a single book,” presents a world that unfolds within the palm of one’s hand—a place where life and beauty can be found in the fragments of the world. All born from the artist’s own hand, the five works that will be presented are like a small cosmos nestled within one’s palm.
● The title of the monograph Pharmakon derives from the word “pharmacology,” a Greek concept that combines the ambivalent meanings of “medicine” (positive effect) and “poison” (negative effect). When Pharmakon is used as a metaphor, it refers to an innovative person (or idea) who rejects the existing social order and normative system. The title reflects the artist’s own position and ideology.
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