By Sophie Arni
Last April, SNOW Contemporary - a small but highly respected gallery in Tokyo - presented Model Room. The exhibition stemmed from a collaboration between Yuta Akiyama (b.1981), an experienced architect, curator and exhibition designer, and Rintaro Fuse (b.1994), a young artist who graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts Department of Oil Painting. While Akiyama provided a good understanding of space and innovative space design, Fuse helped elevate the 3D experience with the theoretical backbone.
Model Room questioned the idea of selfie culture and the millennial self-obsessed generation. Viewers were invited to walk in the intimacy of a bedroom, with a Camera Lucida placed delicately on white bedsheets. Fuse's Retina Paintings adorned the grainy wallpaper that Akiyama placed on the gallery walls, mimicking the texture of Tokyo 'mansion-apartment' walls. The architect also created a spatial dissonance with blue water pipes zigzagging across the floor, mirroring the uncanny feeling that technology and social media provide to young generations today.
- Photography: Global Art Daily, 2018
About Yuta Akiyama Yuta Akiyama is an artist and architect born in 1981 in Tokyo. With a method of "transportation/accumulation", he creates artworks to summon “spirits in the ground” on the land where complex own histories have emerged. He also works as a space designer and an independent curator. Solo exhibitions include "BARRACKOUT” (ex-Matsuda resident / 2016), "ground under " (SEZON ART GALLERY / 2017), and “Super Circulation" (EUKARYOTE / 2018). website：http://yutumn.com About Rintaro Fuse Born in 1994, Rintaro Fuse graduated from the Oil-Painting Department of Tokyo University of the Arts. He is now enrolled in a Master's course at Tokyo University of the Arts' Graduate School of Film and New Media. He began from studying prehistorical cave paintings and modern social life with cloud sourcing comparatively, keep creating installation and conducting exhibition with searching forms of artworks which can reflect and criticize the time. His solo exhibition “Iphone mural (cave paintings by iPhone)” (BLOCK HOUSE / 2016) caught much attention with his concept in which he compares the new “natural environment” which emerged after we started using our smartphones with ancient people`s attitude against nature. website：http://rintarofuse.com
About SNOW Contemporary
In the world of representation, cross-genre relationships have been naturally accepted. However, when it comes to chance and space to exhibit, the opportunities are still rather limited. SNOW Contemporary introduces representations in different fields through our artist management work. Based in Tokyo, we present various creative artists not only from Tokyo but also from cities all over the world. We hope our activity would contribute to the culture of our time. YUTA AKIYAMA + RINTARO FUSE
MODEL ROOM
MARCH 24th - APRIL 21st, 2018
SNOW CONTEMPORARY,
TOKYO, JAPAN