[Interview Report] Five new works have appeared in the public art in Marunouchi! “43rd Marunouchi Street Gallery” opens

"Marunouchi Street Gallery" is a project to display modern sculptures and works of contemporary artists in the Marunouchi area centered on Marunouchi Naka-dori in Tokyo.

In June 2022, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the event , new works were installed and some works were replaced for the first time in 4 years, so we will introduce the state of the exhibition focusing on the new works.

Marunouchi Street Gallery celebrating its 50th anniversary

Art blends into the beautiful scenery of cobblestones and roadside trees, entertaining the people who come and go. Marunouchi Street Gallery is an art project started in 1972 by Mitsubishi Estate and The Hakone Open Air Foundation.

<Marunouchi Naka-dori>

Mainly on Marunouchi Naka-dori, where sophisticated office buildings, commercial facilities, famous brand shops, fashionable cafes, etc. are lined up, the works of modern sculpture masters and contemporary artists who are active in the world are exhibited in various places in the Marunouchi area (Otemachi, Marunouchi, Yurakucho). Exhibition. While lit up at night, we have created a city that is integrated with art that stimulates people's creativity.

The works on display change every few years, and this time, which is the 43rd time, we have a lineup of 5 new works, 2 continuous works, and 12 replacement works from the 1960s to the latest 2022 works, for a total of 19 works . The exhibition is scheduled for 3 years.

<Exhibition artist>
H & P. Shagan, Agustan Cardenas, Igor Mitry, Kim Hamsky, Yayoi Kusama, Jim Dine, Giuseppe Spanulo, Kiichi Sumikawa, Timo Sorin, Michiko Nakatani, Kohei Nawa, Pavel Kurbarek, Bernard Meadows, Katsura Funakoshi, Henry Moore, Takahiro Matsuo, Atsuhiko Misawa, Luigi Mainorfi, Renate Hoflight * In alphabetical order

Five new works created for the Marunouchi Street Gallery, such as Katsura Funakoshi "I fly in the city", are now available!

At the end of June, a guided tour was held for the press, and three artists, including Katsura Funakoshi, Michiko Nakatani, and Takahiro Matsuo, who created the new work, also participated and explained about their own work.

In front of the Marunouchi Naka-dori Building, there is "I fly in the city" by Katsura Funakoshi , a sculptor representing Japan.

Mr. Funakoshi is known for creating mysterious figures with wood carving, but this time he tried a bronze statue for the first time in a long time because it was an outdoor exhibition. It will be his first colored bronze work.

Motif such as books and churches are arranged on the head, and it is said that there was an idea that "I want to put what humans cherish on my head".

The book is a symbol of words, and for Mr. Funakoshi, it is "the most beautiful thing that human beings have created." The church represents what we believe and what we rely on. In addition, the tree-lined avenue in between was intended to give the sculpture an expanse of distance and space.

The portrait is colorful, and the shadows are painted blue in advance in consideration of the movement of the day at the installation location. It stands on Nakadori with an elegant and dignified expression that does not make you feel gender.

What does this person, who keeps thinking about "what humans cherish" in the hustle and bustle, speak to the people who come and go?

In front of the Shin-Tokyo Building is Michiko Nakatani's "Girl carrying a small fish and a blue bird flying in the golden sky" .

Mr. Nakatani mainly produces three-dimensional works in which unevenness is reversed, unlike general relief. This work is a sculpture work based on a female plaster mold from which the clay prototype was taken out. A crescent-shaped curved support that resembles a piece of paper, with a dent representing a pregnant girl who carries fish swimming water in a skirt.

A hollow girl whose facial expressions and postures change as the viewer's point of view changes. Due to the optical illusion, the viewer feels as if he is looking back at the work, and in this work, the position of the viewer and the person who is seen is ambiguous. Like Mr. Nakatani, who skillfully manipulates the fluctuations of "absence" and "existence" due to unevenness, a girl who is "not there" and absent will establish its presence by the presence of the viewer.

The back is mirror-polished with bronze distortion, and a concave blue bird is flying. Mr. Nakatani said, "The figure and background of the viewer are reflected in the work, and the real world is also shaking due to the fluctuation of the mirror surface. In the distorted virtual image, only the blue bird that is not here clearly emerges." Explain.

When creating public art, I thought, "I want to make the relationship between the work and each person" the only thing "while the innumerable inversions that occur in the unevenness capture the body of the viewer." yes. Please experience it from various angles.

Takahiro Matsuo , an international artist who creates light installations using images, lighting, objects, technology, and interactions, installed " Prism" Dahlia + Peony "" at the entrance of the Otemachi Building. This is the first indoor exhibition work at the Marunouchi Street Gallery.

A pair of installations are made up of louver-shaped acrylic plates on the left and right of the entrance, and objects that imitate flower dahlia and peony.

The objects are made of prism-colored sheet-shaped resin and molded one by one. The sharp and powerful dahlia and the peony with a gorgeous and soft impression contrast the emotions that give to the space.

It is transparent, but when a car or a person wearing gorgeous clothes passes by as shown in the table, it takes in that color and colors the flowers. Depending on the time of day, in addition to shining in the sunlight, it also shows the phenomenon that the transmitted light spreads in rainbow colors on the floor.

Mr. Matsuo explained that this work is "a work that is both a form and a phenomenon." "The work of light is a lighting or an image, and it disappears without being formed as a phenomenon. Therefore, I wanted to make a work that shapes light with the concept of sculpture, and this time as one figure. I chose flowers as a motif, "he said.

Timeless light art that changes phenomena while blending into the ever-developing landscape of the city. One of the highlights is the coexistence with the modern interior of the renewed Otemachi Building.

In front of the Marunouchi 2-chome Building, there is a new work "Matching Thoughts" based on two paintings made in Vienna in 2004 by the duo art unit H & P. Shagan .

The materials are old and the modeling is not innovative, but the details and the esprit hidden in them have a respect for their modern sculpture. There is a 2.1 cm gap between the two solids placed in contrast, which is said to be the distance that the artist was particular about in the sense of giving a sense of tension. The solid looks like a head, but it may be glaring.

In addition, the works exhibited at the Marunouchi Street Gallery reflect the artist's opinions as much as possible in the pedestal and lighting. In this work, we used Okinawan flower blocks in response to the artist's desire to make it a light pedestal. The contrast with the three-dimensional work is also a highlight.

Kohei Nawa's "Trans ", which focuses on the "epidermis" of sculpture as an interface that connects to the senses and pursues a new way of sculpture, centered on the unique concept of recognizing the world with cells (cells / grains). -Double Yana (Mirror)》 is installed in front of the Maru Building.

"TRANS", which applies effects to the surface of 3D-scanned polygons and re-materializes the data, is a sculpture series that has continued since 2012, and this work is an early work. The pedestal was renewed for this street gallery and it was exhibited as a new work. It was shining in the sunlight as if it was emitting light by itself.

The boundary between reality and virtual becomes ambiguous by overlapping the body that exists in reality and the body formed by processed information data so that they melt together. Which is the real image and which is the virtual image? Now, 10 years after its production, I will once again question the reality of existence in modern times.

Two items such as Yayoi Kusama "We are pumpkins" will be exhibited continuously.

Also pay attention to the works that are continuously exhibited. Yayoi Kusama, an avant-garde artist placed in front of Nijubashi Square, created "We are Pumpkins" in 2013 as Kusama's first stone carving work.

Pumpkin is a motif that Kusama likes to use. In a past interview with this work, he said, "Pumpkin is extremely humorous and cute, but it has a human-like soul like a personality and speaks to us."

Pumpkin is also an expression of Mr. Kusama's own subject, and by superimposing a pumpkin (Kusama himself) on a material that remains semi-permanently (black granite), he breathes eternal life into the work and "continues to send love to this place forever. It is said that he put the feeling of "I want to".

Atsuhiko Misawa's "Animal 2017-01-B2" , known for his humorous wood carving work "Animals", which is a life-sized carving of animals, is installed at the front entrance of Marunouchi Oazo.

This work was made in bronze. It has an intermediate expression of loveliness, ferociousness, and the polarized image of a bear, and it gives a bird's-eye view of people traveling in the big city for various purposes without threatening.

Although it is not an exhibition at the Marunouchi Street Gallery, there are only two precious full-scale duplicate ceramic plates in the world of Picasso's "Guernica" in the Marunouchi Oazo, so please take a look when you appreciate them. ..

There are 12 replacement works. A masterpiece with a height of 7M!

There are 12 replacement works, and the most eye-catching is Pavel Kurbarek's "Nike 1989", which is a homage to "Winged Victory of Samothrace" (the statue of the goddess of victory / around 190 BC) in front of the Marunouchi Building. It is a masterpiece with a height of 7M. The statue of the goddess of victory revived in the present age is a model unique to an artist born in a blacksmith, and the dignified appearance with wings extended to the heavens is beautiful.

I was a little scared of Igor Mitoraj's "Sleeping Head Statue" in front of the Shin-Marunouchi Building. A well-known writer for fragmentary sculptures of the human body, this work also has a neat face like a Greek sculpture covered with bandages only on the head, and although it is tense, it strangely blends into the scenery of the city. increase.

Mitry described this bandaged person as himself. Do you not want to see the outside or you do not want to see yourself? With the bandages still untied, he keeps quietly staring at himself.

Luigi Mainorfi's "Giant Town" located near the Marunouchi Eiraku Building is exceptionally unique.

This work, which was inspired by ancient Italy, looks like a plump person from a distance, but when you approach it, you will notice that there are countless window-shaped voids throughout. It's like an ancient citadel or a hollow city. At night, the light is shined from the inside of the work, and the warm city lights leaking from the windows are fantastically expressed.

Mr. Mainorfi says that many of the objects he has created have his feet in the same way as this work. It seems that the sculpture has the intention of giving freedom to the sculpture, saying, "You can run away," and there was certainly a naughty atmosphere that seemed to start moving freely without people seeing it.

Other exhibited works are as follows.

As I introduced, it is lit up at night, so you can experience the charm of the work that is different from the one introduced in the image. Experience the fun of art in the city at the new lineup of Marunouchi Street Gallery.

Outline of "43rd Marunouchi Street Gallery"

Exhibition period: June 2022 to May 2025 (planned)
Exhibition location: Marunouchi Naka-dori, Marunouchi Oazo, Otemachi Building Sponsor: Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd. Supervision: The Hakone Open Air Foundation Official Website:https://www.marunouchi.com/lp/street_gallery/

<Past coverage articles>
[Artizon Museum] Three special exhibitions will be held at the same time! Press preview report

[Venue Report] "Art AQUARIUM Museum GINZA" opens in Ginza Mitsukoshi! A fantastic art space where goldfish dance

[There is a real food report] A new sweets spot is born in Ginza! "GINZA SWEETS MARCH" is the first store in Japan and the first in Tokyo

[Experience Report] Evolutionary flower art facility "NAKED FLOWERS FOR YOU" opens in Yurakucho Marui! Face diagnosis and cosmetics gifts for meditation experience

List of past coverage articles