ShugoArts is pleased to present “Something on the Planet” a new solo show of Teppei Kaneuji. In his artworks, Kaneuji brings existing products (plastic objects, timber, etc.) together, dismantles them and then reassembles them in accordance with some specific rule. He thus transforms existing objects into something completely new by bestowing on them meanings that are different to the original meanings with which they were imbued.

Kaneuji says that “There is a certain fear associated with the notion that events or changes in circumstances can lead to people or things being assigned different roles, but I think that is also quite liberating.” Last year Kaneuji did the art direction for the play “Kaden no yo ni Sawariaenai” (We can’t understand each other, like household appliances), by Toshiki Okada of Chelfitsch and the dancer Kaiji Moriyama, and became interested in the quick transformations between fiction and non-fiction that occur on the stage. The transformations were so complex, he thought, that the work achieved a state that was neither fiction nor non-fiction, and that a state was reached where something was both fiction and non-fiction depending entirely on the circumstances or the passing of time. For Kaneuji, this insight opened up a whole new realm of possibilities.

The gallery is not so much a continuation of reality but a place that is severed from it, and by coming into more direct contact with that gallery than ever before, Kaneuji can introduce into that space elements of the theater, he can mix together phenomenon that in fact exist at different scales. He can imbue his art with a new role. Kaneuji’s new works include sculptures made of piles of manga-themed objects, models for an imaginary theater production, videos, reflective panels and lenticular panels. All of them are presented in dramatic fashion in this, the artist’s first solo show at ShugoArts in two years.