At first glance Keita Sagaki’s work looks like a painting or landscape that everyone has seen somewhere, however, as you approach it you will understand how his work has been composed by a tremendous motif of a pure white canvas that has been drawn on with a thin tipped pen. It is a very detailed work which has come together line by line, the design is rather comical like manga, and for example there are little characters and elements of gags which invite laughter. In addition there are also various grotesque sexual elements such as uteruses or fetuses which have been mixed together. The canvas is filled with an incredible amount of information which can’t be quite captured by the naked eye. By separating ourselves from what we can see we can get closer to seeing the gap which enters our consciousness and leaves such a strong impact. It shakes our existing values and yet at the same time we are reminded that the world we live in is constantly in an unstable flux.

The title of this exhibition is ‘Convertism,’ it is a created phrase used by writers to mean how mitate (見立て) can equate to a changing style. Mitate is a Japanese word which refers to a technique that is a well-known means of expression, but rooted within a variety of Japanese traditional culture. For example, in regards to art it can mean embedding events people, or ideas, into images and thus creating a new meaning which can often be a parody. It can be said that Japanese art made by this technique increases universality and uniqueness. Although Sagaki’s production process involves reconstructing existing paintings the result becomes something essentially different. This work made with a motif, that incorporates ink painting and Ukiyo-e, forms the focus of this exhibition, and it interlocks the production of the artist’s style with the tradition of Japanese art. In this way it has become a structure for the transformation of the concepts of holiness and profanity.

In Japanese the name of this exhibition is pronounced as tenshiki (転式) which is the same pronunciation as the word 転失気 (tenshiki). However, this second word refers to a famous ten minute rakugo story told by storytellers. This story is about how people pretend to know medical terminology, because everyone else pretends to know the meaning of this vocabulary as well. In this way they can be preconceptions that we all possess, but it is also a point of view which changes by looking from different perspectives. This exhibition has been cut in two by developing a first half and a second half.

-Cashi Contemporary Art Shima

Image: © Keita Sagaki
Courtesy of the artist and Cashi Contemporary Art Shima