Το έργο του Kota Ezawa είναι μια γέφυρα μεταξύ χαρτιού κολάζ και βίντεο. Γεννήθηκε στη Γερμανία, είναι Ιαπωνικής-Γερμανικής καταγωγής και ζει στην Αμερική. Το έργο του Dead Troops Talk, 2007 περιγράφεται ως «ένα περίπλοκο κολάζ χαρτιού που μοιάζει με καμουφλάζ (πόλεμος αφηρημένος σε μοτίβο πολέμου) αναδιαμορφώνοντας την φωτογραφία του φωτογράφου Jeff Wall.
Η curator Katherine Bussard του Art Institute of Chicago αναφέρει για τη δουλειά του Ezawa πως ο τρόπος που κόβει το χαρτί, τα ελαφριά κουτιά και οι διαφάνειες, ο τρόπος που μόνο τα βασικά σχήματα και τα χρώματα παραμένουν, παγιδεύοντας με αυτόν τον τρόπο όλες τις λεπτομέρειες, τις σκιές και την απόχρωση, είναι στοιχεία που θα μπορούσαν να βρεθούν και στην αυθεντική σύνθεση. Είτε χρησιμοποιώντας τεχνικές κολάζ είτε κάποιο γραφιστικό πρόγραμμα επαναπροσδιορίζει την εικόνα-πηγή μέσα από ποικιλία προοπτικών.
Παραπάνω υπάρχει μια ηχητική πηγή για το έργο του Jeff Wall που υπήρξε αφετηρία του έργου του Kota Ezawa για το τι είναι η πατρίδα?
Παρατηρούμε το πως ένα έργο μπορεί να είναι πολυδιάστατο και ανατρέχοντας σε αυτό, αποκαλύπτεται το δίκτυο σύνθεσής του στο οποίο προστίθεται η υποκειμενική ματιά μας και η συνθετότητα της ανθρώπινης αντίληψης.
Portraiture has always been more than simply an attempt to create a faithful image of sitter. Likenesses, @hainesgallery #summergroupshow including works by Maurizio Anzeri, Kota Ezawa, Mike Henderson, Taha Heydari, Aimé Mpane, Matt Lipps and Shirin Neshat, makes an intriguing survey of contemporary portraiture through different cultures, mediums, and experiences . #hainesgallery #kotaezawa #maurizioanzeri #mattlipps #shirinneshat #aimémpane #tahaheydari #mikehenderson #summerart #sfgallery #ilovesf (at Haines Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz_TUzmhiYw/?igshid=o1z76i813zg
Soundtrack to snippet of City of Nature by #kotaezawa - seen at @chryslermuseum a few weeks back #dailybleeps #guerillacollaboration #latergram #sounds #art #minimal #experimental #electronic #soundscape #soundtrack #eurorack #modularsynthesizer #modularsynth #synth #synthesizer #quiet #lowfi #modularsynthesis https://www.instagram.com/p/BrbmjQVFTWT/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1hlvyhpc2e7ei
The exhibition “Last Year in Marienbad: A Film as Art” presents a video by artist Kota Ezawa. In the following interview Kota Ezawa gives insight into his work and his fascination with movies. The show in the Kunsthalle Bremen gathers works of art which were influenced by the nouvelle vague classic “L’année dernière à Marienbad” (1961) by French director Alain Resnais.
1. What did you do before you became an artist?
Although it may sound pretentious, I think that I started working as an artist around the age of 4. That’s when I started drawing and I also started showing my drawings to family members, kindergarten teachers and friends.
2. When and why did you decide to dedicate your life to art?
After graduating from high school (I went to a Gymnasium in the South of Germany). It was a very natural choice. I didn’t really see any other options for me.
3. Which books, movies, artists or people inspired you?
Different books, films and artists at different times. I listened to a lot of Prince when I was a teenager. When I began studying at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf I became fascinated with pop art, Russian constructivism and dadism. The people that inspire me most are artists that I have spent time with, like the German painter Dietmar Lutz or the photographer Sascha Weidner. I also had the pleasure to meet Harun Farocki and most recently Louise Lawler. All these people inspire me a great deal.
4. When did you first see the Movie „Last year in Marienbad“?
I saw Last Year in Marienbad (LYIM) at the Pacific Film Archive (PFA) of the University of California at Berkeley in the late 90s. PFA is an art house cinema that specializes on avant-garde and experimental film screenings. A friend of mine worked at PFA at the time and organized a private screening of LYIM for a group of friends.
5. What aspect about the movie fascinates you most and how does it influences your work?
I’m most fascinated by the overall atmosphere of the film. To me L’année derniere à Marienbad is more of a style exercise than a story. I don’t mean this in a degrading way - the opposite. The style of this film is exquisite. The costumes designed by Coco Chanel play a big role in this film. There is also a certain “chilliness” that permeates the entire movie, that comes from the acting but also the outfits, the sound and the sets. I see my own films more as moving paintings or drawings rather than stories or cartoons. This obsession with surface and visual experience is something that connects my work to this film.
Kota Ezawa | 09.12.2015
The film Last Year in Marienbad (L’Année dernière à Marienbad, 1961) by Alain Resnais is one of the most sophisticated and beautiful but also controversial films of the post-war era. It inspired numerous directors but also visual artists, photographers, fashion designers and pop musicians. The exhibition “Last Year in Marienbad: A Film as Art” (14 November 2015 till 13 March 2016) for the first time explores the creative dialogue between film and the visual arts and presents international and contemporary works of art which reference the classic French film. The exhibition will further demonstrate how the film as a key manifestation of the avant-garde shares critical formal and aesthetic aspects with Surrealist precursors, the contemporary art of its time and after. Historical documents provide behind-the-scenes insights into the film and its making.
Beloved #Vermeer stolen in notorious @gardnermuseum heist reappears, along with true-to size LED lightboxes of the other 12 missing works, in #KotaEzawa show #ThirteenStolenWorksandaVideotape at #MurrayGuy. The videotape recreates the recording at the museum of the night before the theft #GardnerMuseum (at Murray Guy)
Kota Ezawa: "Thirteen Stolen Works of Art and a Videotape" is on view at Murray Guy in NYC through December 19. Kota Ezawa, The Concert, 2015, LED lightbox. #kotaezawa #art #painting #photography #lightbox #isabellastewartgardnermuseum #gardnermuseum #boston #heist #manet #rembrandt #vermeer #videotape #double #tape #animation #digital #anime #installation #concert #murrayguy #murrayguygallery #gallery #show #nyc #thirteen #stolen #works (at Murray Guy)
Kota Ezawa Home Video 2001(excerpt). Uploaded with permission.
An animated example of Color Constancy.
Color constancy is an example of subjective constancy and a feature of the human color perception system which ensures that the perceived color of objects remains relatively constant under varying illumination conditions. A green apple for instance looks green to us at midday, when the main illumination is white sunlight, and also at sunset, when the main illumination is red. This helps us identify objects.
