Pumpkin, by Yayoi Kusama
and sunset from Benesse House, Naoshima Island
Japanese modern artists have been very imaginative.
The person who goes to a modern art museum and says over and over “I could do that” wants art to be representative and pictorial, which is fine. There is another kind of art. One that encourages conversation and contemplation, oftentimes about what art is and who we are. The Chichu Art Museum on Naoshima Island has art in places and ways you least expect, demanding from us to wonder if we are happy when we are disoriented. When art and architecture do not do what we expect them to do.
The architecture and nature of this island work together to make an individual constantly question where they are among it. While architecture traditionally serves as protection from nature, here it serves as the medium through which we experience nature. Similarly, the art - which can be inside or outside, aesthetically pleasing or incredibly disorienting - encourages us to allow ourselves to be disoriented and have fun with it. As our study leader Angus said, “This place is about play. It reassures you that you don’t have to take art too seriously. Let’s move on. Let us use Japan to move on.”
Japanese modern artists have been very imaginative.
The person who goes to a modern art museum and says over and over “I could do that” wants art to be representative and pictorial, which is fine. There is another kind of art. One that encourages conversation and contemplation, oftentimes about what art is and who we are. The Chichu Art Museum on Naoshima Island has art in places and ways you least expect, demanding from us to wonder if we are happy when we are disoriented. When art and architecture do not do what we expect them to do.
The architecture and nature of this island work together to make an individual constantly question where they are among it. While architecture traditionally serves as protection from nature, here it serves as the medium through which we experience nature. Similarly, the art - which can be inside or outside, aesthetically pleasing or incredibly disorienting - encourages us to allow ourselves to be disoriented and have fun with it. As our study leader Angus said, “This place is about play. It reassures you that you don’t have to take art too seriously. Let’s move on. Let us use Japan to move on.”
And in the words of the modern artist Man Ray: "I have been accused of being a joker. But the most successful art to me involves humor." (Undated interview, circa 1970s; published in Man Ray: Photographer, 1981.)
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