The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Shinro Ohtake was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1955. Following his graduation from Musashino Art University in Tokyo in 1980, he travelled to London, Paris and Hong Kong. In 1989 he received a three-month travel grant to the United States from the United States Information Agency and the Fund for Artists' Colonies Inc. By his own account, Shinro Ohtake has been deeply influenced by the British-born artist, David Hockney. Shinro Ohtake's first solo exhibition was held at Gallery Watari in Tokyo in 1982. In 1991, his solo show 'Echoes: Work of Shinro Ohtake' travelled to Galerie Tokoro, Seibu Art Forum/The Contemporary Art Gallery, Tokyo and City Hall, Namba City, Osaka. His most recent solo exhibition was 'Shinro Ohtake Recent Works 1991-92', shown by Galerie Tokoro at the Japan/Nippon Inter- national Contemporary Art Fair NICAF '92, Yokohama. Shinro Ohtake has participated widely in international group exhibitions, including 'Kiuba Cupol', a sound performance with Bruce Gilbert, Graham Lewis and Russell Mills, Notre Dame Hall, ·London, England, 1980; 'Giappone avanguardia del futuro', Palazzo Bianco, Genoa, Italy, 1985; 'Live One's Week: Only Connect', a sound performance with Russell Mills, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, England, 1985; 'Against Nature: Japanese Art in the Eighties', touring the United States, 1989-91; and 'Cross Currents: Bookworks from the Edge of the Pacific', College of Creative Studies Gallery, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States, 1990. The artist's work is widely represented in public collections including the Hakone Open-Air Museum, Kanagawa and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Since his return to Japan, Shinro Ohtake has been creating work that continues to evolve in all directions. His recent works fall into three main categories. The first group is made using photographs as the base. Ohtake covers and pours resin over them, adds collage and wipes out any images in the photographs from the surface. The artist cannot control the process when the picture changes within the liquid creating the texture. Shinro Ohtake's 'work', therefore, is created in uncertainty: can it in fact become a piece of art? This group takes the direction of automatism and thus can be interpreted as contemporary surrealism. The second group consists of three- dimensional pieces using discarded objects JAPAN SHINRO OHTAKE and rubbish. The artist recycles these materials into objects. One can clearly see the dadaist spirit here. The third group of Shinro Ohtake's works is based on his interest in printed objects and books. The material varies: drawings for comic magazines made during his stay in London, objects, cut-out articles or books that he has made. He treats printed objects, which are symbols of modern culture, as products of the age. He turns these objects into works of art by casting an image of himself on them, dismantling them or reconstructing them. These pi,eces are full of information and images of modern society, and, as such, reveal a characteristic of pop art. Thus the artist's works confront the viewer in various moods and forms. Common to Ohtake's works is the realistic notion that one lives in modern society. These works are anti- academic in spirit. Sometimes showing an almost violent vigour and refined elegance, or sometimes evoking metaphysical lines or imprints of reality lost in time, Shinro Ohtake's works provide the viewer with pleasant confusion. Takeshi Kanazawa 75 Stern with holes 1990 Fibreglass, synthetic polymer paint, polystyrene foam 296x306x145cm Collection: The artist Bottom Scrapbook Amerika c.1989 Collage, offset printing