IWATE MUSEUM OF ART

 Kishio Suga (1944-, b. Iwate prefecture) is known as an artist in the Mono-ha art movement that emerged in Japan from the late 1960s to the 1970s. Even after the Mono-ha movement came to an end, he continued to produce works using a variety of techniques and has been a leading figure in Japanese contemporary art to this day. In recent years, Suga’s works earned recognition on a global scale.
    By placing and combining everyday materials such as stone, wood, and metal in a space while intervening with simple actions, such as aligning and bending, Suga’s works prompt us to consider the relationships among materials, the sites they occupy, and people. Doing away with preconceived notions and delving into the essence of “things” and “sites” based on his own singular philosophy, Suga has fundamentally reexamined the nature of conventional art. His approach to creating art has remained unchanged from the time of Mono-ha up until the present.
    This exhibition looks back at more than half a century of Suga’s artistic practice through a selection of some 120 works, including pieces shown in Iwate and a piece made especially for this exhibition, covering a wide range of media such as installation, relief, drawing, photography, and documentary film, divided into ten-year periods.