In today's society, with its passion for efficiency and ease of understanding, are we not inclined to seek guidelines—even in our creative activities which by nature should be spontaneous and free? Are we not inclined to seek reasons and standards of evaluation for what to make and how to make it? The "gallant club members" of The Ossu! Shugeibu are men having no handicraft skills or experience, assembled by Bucho (Captain) Shoichi ISHIZAWA, a skilled creator. Proclaiming, "The Untrained Hand is Beautifull," they have continuously launched activities that value, above all the spirit of fun and the individual's desire to create. Their relaxed, humor-filled Bukatsu workshops, centered on seven core members, nimbly overturn the conventions we all unconsciously associate with handicrafts. Working in design, art, music, and event production, artist Hideki TOYOSHIMA has captured attention with activities that freely traverse genres. Discovering creative opportunities in his encounters with people and places, he creates new events out of relationships arising between things, people, and places. A mediator as well as a creator, he conceives his category-defying activities from his unique perspective as such. In this exhibition, The Ossu! Shugeibu and Hideki Toyoshima will meet for the first time. Toyoshima will interpret the spirit of The Ossu! Shugeibu's artwork in creating an exhibition space where their activities can unfold.
Exhibition Features
The first in-depth exhibition devoted to The Ossu! Shugeibu
Formed by Bucho Shoichi Ishizawa, The Ossu! Shugeibu has captured attentIon with free-form creative activities, unbound by convention. Through those activities they probe the essence of "mono-zukuri" (making things) and, using a blend of humor and sarcasm, criticize the state of contemporary art. With this exhibition, The Ossu! Shugeibu's activities will be presented at an art museum for the first time. Together with a comprehensive gathering of Bukatsu workshop creations, we will construct a "Clubroom" in the venue in order to display, just as it is, the reality of the Bucho's day-to-day work and Bukatsu club activities.
Spatial Composition by Hideki Toyoshima
The exhibition will highlight Hideki Toyoshima's methods of creating events by giving connection to things, people, and places. In recent years, working in collaboration with curators and exhibiting artists. Toyoshima has designed highly imaginative exhibition spaces giving play to his unique perspective on the world. This time, Toyoshima will create an environment for our experience of The Ossul Shugeibu's artworks. With the inclusion of the Bucho, viewers, and artworks, the exhibition space will be transformed into a theater.
"My Artwork Amazes Me" Bukatsu Workshops
Bukatsu workshops will be staged in the venue for a total 9 days during the exhibition. As the Cub's main activity, the workshops provide a creative arena where makers can have fun and give maximum play to their individuality heedless of the opinions of those around them. Come by and experience "My Artwork Amazes me for yourself.
