Futo Akiyoshi
Futo Akiyoshi is one of a new generation of artists to explore the meaning of painting. Established and developed in the West, painting is a relatively new medium in the history of Japanese art, yet it is perhaps the only form regarded as an authentic fine art practice in Japanese mainstream public opinion. Akiyoshi has developed his work based on rules, and repetition is key to his practice. Imbued with asubtle humour, his work recalls the spirit of early Bruce Nauman performances, questioning the role of contemporary art and the artist through vaguely absurd repetitive acts. On the other hand, Akiyoshi is acutely aware of the importance and autonomy of the art object, as Malevich stated almost a century ago:
Art no longer cares to serve the state and religion, it no longer wishes to illustrate the history of manners, it wants to have nothing further to do with the object, as such, and believes that it can exist, in and for itself, without ‘things’ (that is, the ‘time-tested well-spring of life’).
Whereas Malevich painted over his existing works with precise black squares, regaining the power of autonomy as an originator, Akiyoshi paints over his works in white, rendered with flamboyant painterliness. This series, Circumstances of the Adult, stands in expressive counterpoint to the calculated Room series (2002–). Here the works depict given spaces, capturing light and perspective in seductively simple, flattened forms. Each image is repeatedly layered with a subtle tint of gold: a treatment chosen for its anonymous, ethereal quality. Somehow transcending chromatic associations, gold lies between phenomena and colour, just as the works themselves are both spatial representation and surface abstraction.
Born in Osaka, 1977
Lives and works in Berlin
Education
Solo & Two Persons Exhibition
From a Quiet Distance: Futo Akiyoshi + Masato Kobayashi, Park House, Düsseldorf
one build one gild: FUTABA (Futo Akiyoshi + Kouichi Tabata), CAPSULE, Tokyo
greedy life in the room that bores me, Office Baroque Gallery, Antwerp
AFTER REMISEN#6: Futo Akiyoshi + Michiro Tokushige, Nagoya University of Arts Art & Design Center Gallery, Nagoya
Futo Akiyoshi solo exhibition, Nagoya University of Arts Art & Design Center Gallery, Nagoya
Group Exhibition
Images of Memory / Memories of Image, BankART Studio NYK (Yokohama)
Group Show, Jochen Hempel, Leipzig
VOCA 2014 (Selected painter for the Vision of Contemporary Art), The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo
Collection: Contemporary Art and Themes, The National Museum of Art, Osaka
Do not touch!?, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi
Power of a Painting, NADiff, Tokyo
Small Paintings, 1223 GENDAIKAIGA, Tokyo
Cross Counter, XYZ collective / CAPSULE, Tokyo
cowboy & photon, CAPSULE, Tokyo
ask the wine, HI-NEST BLDG 2F, Kyoto
Art for Tomorrow, Tokyo Wonder Site Shibuya, Tokyo
Aichi Triennale 2010, Aichi Arts Center, Aichi
interior round + art, inter office, Osaka
Garden of Painting — Japanese Art of the 00’s, The National Museum of Art, Osaka
THE ECHO, ZAIM, Yokohama
Opening Exhibition II, TARO NASU, Tokyo
Portrait Session @ NADiff, NADiff, Tokyo
IBARAKITAHAMA, Kenji Hashimoto Architecture Office in collaboration with Gallery MEM, Osaka
‘3’ Miedzynarodowy plener Malarski, Dom Zdrolowy – Hala Spacerowa, Swieradow Zdroj
International workshop for visual artists, REMISEN BRANDE, Brande
Grants and Award
Grant for Oversea Research, Pola Art Foundation
Japanese Government Oversea Research Program Grant, Agency for Cultural Affairs
Public Collection
The National Museum of Art, Osaka
Remisen Brande, Brande
SONS museum, Kruishoutem
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi
Exhibitions
