Koji Kakinuma is one of the most prominent figures in the contemporary Japanese art scene, using a unique combination of calligraphy, fine art and performance in his works. He has made his mark on the wider public with his unforgettable performance art performances, in which, accompanied by traditional musical instruments, he used giant brushes to create monumental paintings in rapid succession, balancing between calligraphy and action painting. He further developed this artistic expression through the so-called endlessly repeated sentences, with an emphasis on the individual forms of the calligraphic techniques used. Currently, he has further complemented these two styles with the creation of calligraphic tape-work, where he writes his creative messages on paper using quickly torn adhesive tape of various sizes on very long formats, reminiscent of the traditional form of horizontal scrolls, but transformed into a monumental form.
Speed is the key to all of these techniques, which Kakinuma embodies during the creative action by moving his body to the rhythm of the music in a completely focused trance-like state. Indeed, Japanese traditional calligraphy requires physical movement to create a single, unique work, and for Kakinuma, speed, and movement become distinctive means to create the resulting unique image of powerful expressive forms. In his work, he thus completely transcends the confines of traditional Japanese calligraphy and enters the waters of fine art. His current works are more visually sophisticated compositions. Although based on the successive strokes of traditional Japanese characters, they are transformed into new abstract forms. The result is a form of calligraphy deliberately separated from the nuances of a genre traditionally defined by brush and ink.
The exhibition Traveling Alone presents Kakinuma primarily as a designer of monumental large-format works that comprehensively reflect all of Kakinuma's creative practices. The masterful brushwork in a perfect, almost ecstatic state of mind, the sensitive perception of the content of individual messages, but also a kind of humility of the artist towards the very material used, handmade Japanese paper and ink. For the Museum of Fine Arts in Liberec, Kakinuma has prepared a special cocktail of works representing all his basic forms of expression. Together with the exhibition curator Filip Suchomel, they have selected 14 iconic works from his past and contemporary artistic output, which will bring the visitor closer to all forms of Kakinuma's brushwork, including large-scale paintings, in a minimalist, almost Zen Buddhist-influenced installation.
Kakinuma has recently presented his work in several international projects, including performances and exhibitions at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Mika Gallery and MET in New York, Marueidō Gallery in Tokyo, and the 21st Century Museum of Art in Kanazawa, among many others. He was also one of 20 official artists approached by the Japanese government for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics to create a specific artwork representing one particular genre of traditional Japanese art.
While his work is already well known and sought after by collectors in Asia and America, this is the first time Kakinuma's work has been presented in Europe.
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