MASAKI YADA
LOST IMAGE IN MEMORIES
Private view Wednesday 27th June
Exhibition continues 28 June - 17 August 2012
Zero 10 is pleased to present the sole exhibition of a London based Japanese artist, Masaki Yada.
Masaki's meticulously rendered paintings show the culmination of his endeavour to bring forth the language of painting found in old masters' paintings, whilst exploring ways in which painting as a medium becomes relevant to contemporary culture. His work is also a testimonial and an advocate of demands for quality and materiality rising amongst young artists and collectors rather than intangible conceptual art.
It is ubiquitous in contemporary art that artists attempt to bring dialogues of socio-political issues to the arena of aesthetics. As the role of art does have to be confined in the fabric of art for art's sake, it is a meaningful venture to explore the multiple facets of art. From the other perspective, however, it is the case in which art is being artificially politicised. An eminent German philosopher, Friedrich Hegel famously predicted in the 19th century the arrival of the end of art, by arguing that art would soon be taken over by philosophy. As if attesting to this, in the mid 20th Century, the death of art was pronounced by an American art critic, Arthur Danto, on the sight of Andy Warhol's Brillo Box. In the face of it, a formalist approach to art seems to pose as an antithesis of this proliferating notion of art as a vehicle of political and social dialogues. By the same token, some might show scepticism as to whether or not the interpretation of old master's can be of the contemporary relevance. Indeed, there is an undeniable concern with how one can remark on prevalent issues of the 21st Century by means of ancient language.
Masaki asks:
"Every time I inspect a Vermeer at National Gallery, Girl at Virginal, I discover a new aspect that I was never aware before. My art praxis is like opening the coffins of old masters and to discover treasures that buried with them like golden daggers and jewels...but how do I smuggle the lexicon of old masters from the context of "genre painting" or "candle lit still life" to the contemporary terrain? I am not a philosopher, but merely observing the fluid vitality of nature under which all human activities are subsumed. I also regard myself as a messenger of our present-day concerns to the future. Language is pre-individual in that before my birth or formation of individual uniqueness it was invented and spoken and so is the language of painting. Hence, I intuited that by visiting great masters of the past, I would find a way of communicating to my descendant. This answers a question; why do I have to excavate and resurrect the virtuosity of the dead old masters? I am on the genealogy of what began a long time ago, which will be passed on from generation to generation."
A naysayer may express uncertainty of the pertinence of such ancient language, however what has changed since Vermeer or Van Eyck? There are still human desires that ceaselessly precipitate wars and conflicts. "Life and Death, love and hatred, the rise and fall of empires, faith and betrayal, class struggles and the dominance of global capital, religious hostilities and advent of science in pursuit of truth, "will to power" and "eternal return," as Nietzsche says. Such timeless subjects as these interest me without dissipating. With this awareness, I see the relevance of ancient language to the present, moreover to the future," says Masaki.
Masaki Yada was born in 1979 in Tokyo, Japan and lives and works in London. He has participated in a series of group exhibitions in London, Sweden, France Italy, Japan and the US, including "Florence Biennale" (2009), "The art of Display, Summerset House" (2010). Also, Masaki is the first prize winner of "Open West", 2009.
