Diverse materials used as supports with a modular approach to composition and scale become vessels for subtle, diffused colors that evoke serenity and facilitate contemplation of space and infinity. Tadaaki Kuwayama’s monochrome approach to painting and use of reductive geometric shapes and industrial materials remove all references to anything personal, cultural or symbolic to create purely non-objective artworks that allow the viewer to become immersed in thoughts and possibilities. A very elegant approach to an immersive experience.
This selection spans from 1965 to 1999, most of Kuwayama’s 7 decade career and includes individual paintings and installations that can be reconfigured and spaced in different ways to accommodate or create a variety of environments.
Tadaaki Kuwayama Untitled, 1973 Acrylic, metallic paint on canvas with aluminum strips (6 separate panels connected together with aluminum strips) 83.75" x 83.75”
Tadaaki Kuwayama TK3945-5/8’74, 1974 Silver and grey acrylic on canvas, aluminum strips 45.5" x 45.5”
Tadaaki Kuwayama TK586-.5-2-1/2’99, 1999 Anodized Aluminum
12 aluminum planks each 86.5 x 7 inches, alternating pink and silver colors. 86.5" x 84" x 2.5” (Overall dimensions with no spacing)
86.5 x approximately 170” as installed in image
Tadaaki Kuwayama Untitled, 1992 Metallic paint, Bakelite board, Aluminum angle
Series of 12 separate panels in 3 sets of 4 colors: pink, yellow, green, blue
23.5” x 23.5” each individual panel
23.5" x 282” Overall Dimensions (with no space in between)
23.5 x approximately 414” as installed in image
Detail of a set of 4:
Tadaaki Kuwayama TK4935-1/2-’65, 1965 Acrylic on canvas, aluminum strips 35.5 x 35.5 “
Tadaaki Kuwayama TK4835-1/2-’65, 1965 Acrylic on canvas, aluminum strips 35.5 x 35.5 “
All Artworks Copyright © Tadaaki Kuwayama
Artworks presented in the exhibition:
TADAAKI KUWAYAMA
Construction / Materials
December 4 through December 20, 2019
and after the holidays from January 22 to 31, 2020
In New York at David Richard Gallery.
About Tadaaki Kuwayama:
Tadaaki Kuwayama was born in Nagoya, Japan in 1932 and studied traditional nihonga painting at the Tokyo National University of Art. in 1958, he and his wife, artist Rakuko Naito, moved to New York City. His contemporaries included other well-known minimalist artists, including Donald Judd, Robert Morris, Dan Flavin and Walter De Maria. However, Kuwayam developed his own distinct approach and purpose while maintaining a very reductive, clean aesthetic.
Kuwayama is known for his minimalist artworks that are made of reductive shapes that function as building blocks, but did not consider himself a Minimalist per se. The shapes are transformed into artworks by the artist assembling them into constructions of multi-component individual works as well as site-specific installations that transform a space with an immersive experience. Color is the focus and primary element for Kuwayama and the reductive shapes are the vessels for the pigment. He explores different materials for the supports as they provide unique interactions between the pigment and light, thus the colors shift and change. Monochrome painting is not the focus of Kuwayama’s artwork. However, it became the vehicle along with the reductive shapes of squares and rectangles that allowed him to explore color in subtle and elegant ways. The descriptions and discussions of the artworks are not important to Kuwayama. He is concerned with the final objects themselves when assembled and installed. Then, it becomes about the viewing experience, challenging perceptions of color, space and infinity.
Kuwayama’s work has been exhibited in many solo exhibitions at Green Gallery, New York; Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Galerie Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland; Museum Folkwang, Essen, West Germany; Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany; Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan; and National Museum of Art, Osaka, among others. His artworks have been included in many important group exhibitions in international museums, including the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; and Nationalgalerie, Berlin, among others. Kuwayama’s artworks are included in more than 40 international museums and public collections, including: Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Nationalgalerie Berlin, Berlin, Germany; The Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan; The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan; and Nagoya City art Museum, Nagoya, Japan among others. David Eichholtz, Manager David Richard Gallery, LLC New York Copyright © 2019 David Richard Gallery, LLC. All rights reserved. 211 East 121 ST | New York, NY 10035 Hours: Wed to Sat 10:00 am - 6:00 pm. Sun 12:00 - 6:00 pm. And by Appointment. P: (212) 882-1705 C: (917) 853-8161