Futo Akiyoshi “A Faithful Antinomy”
Longhouse Projects
This event has ended.
Longhouse Projects presents A Faithful Antinomy, by Futo Akiyoshi. This is his first solo exhibition with the gallery.
Antinomianism comes from the Greek words ‘anti’ (against) and ‘nomos’ (law), thus literally meaning ‘opposed to laws.’ Martin Luther coined the term ‘antinomian’ during the Protestant Reformation, rebelling against the laws of the Catholic Church, stating that faith alone was sufficient for salvation. Immanuel Kant applied the term ‘antinomy’ to his philosophy, arguing that for every law, there is an equally rational but contradictory law-a thesis and an antithesis. Since then, hardline anarchists and Baptists have used the term to describe their movements and motivations.
Berlin-based Japanese artist, Futo Akiyoshi, applies the term to his own artistic practice in order to describe the constant back-and-forth between want and need, desire and limitation. His works attempt to balance restraint and resignation. In his series of 100 Polaroid photos in which he takes immediate snapshots of assorted configurations of objects, he displays a strangely jocund rigor, hybridizing play with product. In his Room series, he repeatedly layers strokes of gold oil paint from left to right to create basic geometric studies of rooms, wavering between audacity and humility. With his Field series, his gestural monochromes become rugs (or portals), to physically walk around, to visually enter, to conceptually and spatially link the domestic (the Room paintings) to the workplace (the Polaroid photos).
Unlike preceding individuals who have used this term, Akiyoshi is not revolting against anything, but rather, he is reverting to the origins of Antinomianism in order to revise its meaning for his own agenda. By having faith in this innate dichotomy of his, he can exploit it.
Futo Akiyoshi (Japanese, b. 1977) lives and works in Berlin, Germany. He received his MA from Nagoya University of Arts, Japan in 2005. TARO NASU (Tokyo, Japan) represents him with three solo exhibitions. Recent group shows include: The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan; Toyota Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan; Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin, Germany; NADiff, Tokyo, Japan; Gallery HAM, Nagoya, Japan; and a solo exhibition at Office Baroque, Antwerp, Belgium.
[Image: Futo Akiyoshi “Lost (Room)” (2013) 75 x 90 cm]
Media
Schedule
from July 11, 2013 to August 16, 2013
Opening Reception on 2013-07-11 from 18:00 to 20:00