We visited Gensho Sugahara’s solo exhibition “anonym.” The venue is the Gaienmae gallery EUKARYOTE.
Exterior of EUKARYOTE
EUKARYOTE has repeatedly hosted exhibitions of Gensho Sugahara’s work in the past, but this marks his first solo show at the gallery.
The title “anonym” is a word denoting unidentifiable ancient makers or anonymity.
Utilizing all three floors — from the first to the third — the show is structured as a retrospective look at the career Gensho Sugahara has built to date.
First Floor
The first floor, where a single one of Sugahara’s signature sculptures is on view, is a space visible even from the street outside the gallery, where urban foot traffic passes back and forth. A single female figure, stripped of distinctive information by its gray coating, was displayed so that it could be viewed from any angle across 360 degrees.
Gensho Sugahara, a girl 5, FRP, 2020, H870 x W240 x D200mm
The work is reportedly made with awareness that it must hold up as an image from any angle of view.
a girl 5 is a sculpture that conveys a sense of floating, yet the overall balance is calculated so that it can actually stand and be exhibited securely on its own.
Gensho Sugahara, a girl 5Gensho Sugahara, a girl 5Gensho Sugahara, a girl 5
Second Floor
The second floor takes “mob” as its theme.
Ready-made capsules and PET bottles were arranged with sculptures on pallets to form an installation.
Installation viewFluorescent lighting installed to minimize shadowsInstallation viewGensho Sugahara, picture #1, 2020, picture H490 x W400 x D100mmInstallation viewGensho Sugahara, stranger portrait #3, 2020, FRP, wood, H430 x W160 x D200mm
Third Floor
On the third floor, the display centered on the Ectoplasm series — with hologram coating applied to accentuate the traces of the clay’s tactile handling — while the recently series-ized Tactile series was shown on the walls.
Gensho Sugahara, Ectplasm(portrait) #0, 2019, FRP, H540 x W160 x D170mmInstallation viewGensho Sugahara, Tactile #15, 2020, resin, H160 x W200 x D70mmGensho Sugahara, Ectplasm(portrait) #0Gensho Sugahara, Ectplasm(portrait) #0
The solo exhibition “anonym” is composed floor by floor, from the first to the third, each with its own theme.
The carefully calibrated lighting gave the impression of an exhibition where works and space felt more sharply defined than usual.
