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Mono-ha [School of Things] was a movement which although had a short duration from 1968 through the early 1970s, had a pivotal effect on Japanese contemporary art. Mono-ha artists utilised raw, unworked materials such as bare wood, stone, clay, or water, and sought to draw out an artistic expression by arranging them, often temporarily and with minimal manipulation, within an environment. Central to Mono-ha thought was a desire to create a contemporary Asian art free from what the artists considered to be Japan’s unquestioning absorption of International Modernism. In addition they also rejected the use of Asian motifs (such as those derived from Buddhism or Zen) which could be considered derivative.1At the centre of the group was artist-philosopher Lee UFan (b. 1936) and graduates of Tama Art University - Sekine Nobuo, Suga Kishio, Yoshida Katsuro, Koshimizu Susumu, and Narita Katsuhiko. Mono-ha officially emerged in October 1968 with Sekine Nobuo's outdoor site-specific work Phase - Mother Earth; a large cylinder of packed soil situated beside a cylindrical hole in the ground the same shape and size, from where it came. In doing so he rendered earth as earth with minimal intervention. Lee UFan's commentaries on the work which were subsequently published in art magazines developed the concept further. As a result artists came together, meeting regularly at a cafe in Tokyo to discuss and debate the thinking central to Mono-ha. Further works followed, such as Suga Kishio's Unnamed Situation I (1970) and Sekine Nobuo's Phase of Nothingness, a series of works which began in 1969 and each involved a large rock positioned on top of a mirrored rectangular stand.1. Alexandra Munroe, Japanese Art after 1945: Scream Against the Sky, (New York, 1994), p. 259Suga Kishio is a central figure of of Mono-ha, who studied under Saito Yoshishige (see lots 37-44) at Tama Art University, and is acknowledged to be the most disciplined and long-standing adherent of the movement's concept. His work shows an emphasis on the ‘situation’ over the ‘things’ themselves. His 1970 work, Unnamed Situation I featured two rectangular wood blocks of different lengths propping open two adjacent windows at The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. When listing the components of the work he included not only ‘wood’ but ‘window, air, landscape, light’, thereby re-focussing attention on the entire situation, rather than a single, obvious component.1After his emergence as a radical Mono-ha artist, Suga has continued to produce works addressing the themes of "Things" and "Space". The works by Suga in this sale were executed in 1980s and formed of wood, metal and stone, the Mono-ha framework of minimal artistic intervention and personal expression is clearly evident. Suga Kishio’s work has entered numerous museum collections including: The Tate, London (go to https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/suga-ren-shiki-tai-t13336/text-summary) The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (go to https://search.artmuseums.go.jp/search_e/records.php?sakuhin=10627) The National Museum of Art, Osaka (go to https://search.artmuseums.go.jp/search_e/records.php?sakuhin=53533)An exhibition titled Kishio Suga: Situated Latency, was held at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, January-March 2015. Go to https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/eng/exhibition/kishiosuga.html1. Simon Groom, Encountering Mono-ha, exhibition catalogue, Mono-ha – school of things, Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 2001), p. 13Property of a London Collector
Suga Kishio (b. 1944)
Untitled
細節
Suga Kishio (b. 1944)
Untitled
Signed Kishio Suga
Executed in 1988
Metal, wood and stone
59 x 38 x 25 cm.
Untitled
Signed Kishio Suga
Executed in 1988
Metal, wood and stone
59 x 38 x 25 cm.
拍場告示
Please note that this lot should not be marked with an STAR symbol in the printed catalogue, and as such import VAT is not payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price, in addition to the usual 20% VAT on the Buyer's Premium.