Outline

This summer, as a display from the DIC collection, we present in one showing a group of around 20 early works by Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, in honor of the first anniversary of the artist’s death in May of 2018.
Visitors will see highly experimental works such as ones from Yamaguchi’s early “Vitrine” series using patterned (Mol) sheet glass on which images painted in oils or the like were layered in a way that made the images move as the viewer moved in front of them. In these and the other works displayed, visitors will discover the artist’s playful imagination and the resulting fresh viewing experiences.

Using the latest technologies of each era to work with light, video and sound, Katsuhiro Yamaguchi transcended the traditional frameworks of painting and sculpture in creating experimental works that would come to be newly classified as ‘media art’. He would become a central member of the Jikken Kobo, or Experimental Workshop, formed in 1951 in line with the artistic ideals laid down by Shuzo Takiguchi, and later he would go on to gain recognition for activities as a founding member of the group Video Hiroba, or Video Plaza, with artists like Fujiko Nakaya. In addition to work as an artist, Yamaguchi was also respected as an educator, teaching at the University of Tsukuba and other institutions, as well as for his numerous writings such as Futeikei Bijutsu Ron (Free Forms and Concepts in Art, 1967), and his activities as an influential art critic.

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the passing of Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art presents an exhibition focusing mainly on the representative series of “Vitrine” and “Fabric Sculpture” (stretched-cloth sculpture) from the early period of the artist’s long career defined by a diversity of artistic activities.