“2010 frantic underlines” supports the radical changes that are happening just now in the contemporary Japanese art scene. We observe the decline of the despotic empire of the “Wonderland”-style art and consequent unfolding of a plurality of new dimensions in contemporary art. We stand now at a crossroad that could lead in multiple directions. We see art that exists in parallel to the bubbled surface of the Superflat--Micropop history. We foresee new exhibitions that are based on contemplation and consciousness, not the empty self-obliterating hedonism of amusement parks. We make 2,010 frantic underlines to mark one of starting line for the art of the future and to provide vectors that lead to those artists who have actually always been here.

frantic gallery underlines Aya Ohnishi’s research into the compositional strength of Japanese chopsticks when they are intertwined with the soft figures of endless intestines and elephant noses. We stress Ohnishi’s interest in imaginary of food and introduce her “Needlwork” series of paintings dedicated to beauty of a bounty of red salmon eggs that are bursting out from behind a skin-like stitched white cloth.  

frantic gallery underlines Jack McLean, a man who has attacked major museums and galleries around the world with “involuntary acquisitions”, installing his micro sculptures in their spaces and thus making his tiny works a part of permanent exhibitions at the Guggenheim, MOMA in NY, the Pompidou, Tate and more. McLean – a notorious artist in his home country of Scotland -- worked out a detailed plan for an arson attack on his own art school for his master degree presentation at the Glasgow School of Art. Now, frantic gallery is honored to become the official and exclusive representative of McLean’s “Holes” series, including a set of sketches, photos and video documentations as well as the tools and camouflage used to dig holes between 2008 and 2010 in major parks in Tokyo, London, New York and elsewhere. We are happy to announce that McLean has agreed that frantic gallery is the sole entity that may exhibit and sell McLean’s holes to public and private collections.

frantic gallery underlines Macoto Murayama’s synthesis of Botanical Art and
Technical Art -- Inorganic Flora -- images combining the organic delicateness of nature and the scientific sharpness of technology. We stress the necessity of paying attention to and presenting the kinds of Japanese New Media Art that rather than offer the banality of video game amusement or the dullness of gadgets’ tricks links us to conceptually revolutionary materials and techniques; the history of art; and the deep sensuality of common things.  

frantic underlines Naoki Yamamoto’s images of dismemberment done with a graphic technique and filled with humor and the absurd. We emphasize the Street Art vibe in his paintings which is apparent in the sophisticated topology and surrealistic figures in these works. We are glad to have the possibility of presenting a Japanese artist who doesn’t look like a “Japanese artist”, thus shaking loose the constricting stereotypical perceptions of contemporary Japanese art.    

frantic gallery underlines Rei Aruga’s wax figures and uncanny paintings made by simply applying bees’ wax on canvas, that present blurry images of women in the midst of hysteria and men in the act of self-obliteration. All without titles, these works are manifestations of a radical negation of identity: The bees’ wax, this viscous, unfixed material with which they are produced, is used to depict people with similarly unstable inner states and undefined faces.   

frantic gallery underlines Taisuke Mohri’s painting technique, which exceeds the abilities of both nature and machines in copying and bringing to life the reproductions of objects. By accelerating the technique of mimesis, this artist enters into a world of beauty never experienced before that generates a feeling of the uncanny. At the same time, Mohri approaches questions relating to “the real”, “the original” and “the copy” from a new angle. This time we present “Resurrections: Giuliano de' Medici(1526-33)” in which he not only brings to life the subject of a Renaissance sculpture but shows the traces of its aging.

frantic gallery underlines Cousteau Tazuke’s unconventional painting technique that reveals an aggressively intense imagination. Tazuke carves into clear acrylic panels, pours acid-colored paint in the resulting cavities and then exhibits these works backwards, thus subverting the opposition of the front and the rear -- the positive and negative -- of the picture and transcending the borderline between the process of carving and the work of drawing, the art of sculpture and that of painting. 

Curator: Rodion