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Details
- Alternative title
- Hensei
- Place where the work was made
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Japan
- Period
- Heisei period 1989 - → Japan
- Date
- 1990
- Media category
- Materials used
- lithograph
- Edition
- 3/7
- Dimensions
- 72.0 x 93.0 cm image; 79.5 x 110.0 cm sheet
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r., pencil "Ryuta Endo '90".
- Credit
- Gift of the artist 1993
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 411.1993
- Artist information
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Endō Ryūta
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
Endo contemplates the dilemma of man in dealing with the modern urban environment he has created. Like a growing number of artists he is concerned with the increasing alienation man feels not only between himself and his environment, but between his body and his spirit. Endo feels man is facing a crisis. Both physically and mentally man must adapt and change quickly when confronted with the instability of the modern world with its swift environmental destruction, the threat of nuclear holocaust, radiation, acid rain, the fear of sickness and AIDS.
He is concerned with the effect of modern society on the body; on the one hand, the unrelenting rhythms of society, unresponsive to individual feelings, must surely distort the body, on the other hand, biotechnology has also meant the body's movements may no longer be connected to the emotions. Endo became enthralled by his grandfather's pacemaker which, not affected by his movements or feelings, relentlessly pumped to an unchanging internal rhythm of 72 cycles per minute.
It was a printing accident in about 1985 that coalesced his feelings about the body. One day his lithographic plate slipped, distorting the skin of the body of his image and giving it the appearance of elephant hide. Endo became aware that this distortion altered one's normal response to the body, and forced a re-appraisal of the relationship to the spirit within the body.
He thus embarked on his series on the body and its appearance. His bodies, devoid of individuality, are studded with leathery skin, and manipulated by cables into and out of the body. There are intimations of bondage, discipline and control. However the contained power and stress emanating from these forms suggest there is still an unresolved tension between man's spirit and its new sheath. Endo seeks to express that immanent spirit inside the changing body.
Endo was born in Yamanashi Prefecture, completed Graduate School at Tama Art University, and now lives in Tokyo.
Jackie Menzies, Contemporary Japanese Prints: The Urban Bonsai, 1992, pg. 25.
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Places
Where the work was made
Japan
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Exhibition history
Shown in 1 exhibition
The Urban Bonsai, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 04 Mar 1992–04 May 1992
The Urban Bonsai, National Art Gallery, Wellington, Wellington, 20 Jun 1992–09 Aug 1992
The Urban Bonsai, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, 12 Sep 1992–29 Oct 1992
The Urban Bonsai, Manawatu Art Gallery, New Zealand, 13 Nov 1992–10 Jan 1993
The Urban Bonsai, The George Adams Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne, 18 Mar 1993–25 Apr 1993
The Urban Bonsai, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 08 May 1993–01 Aug 1993
The Urban Bonsai, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, Emu Plains, 11 Mar 1994–24 Apr 1994
The Urban Bonsai, Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, 19 May 1994–19 Jun 1994
The Urban Bonsai, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown, 15 Jul 1994–21 Aug 1994
The Urban Bonsai, Bank Art Museum Moree, Moree, 11 Nov 1994–24 Dec 1994
The Urban Bonsai, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, Murwillumbah, 01 Feb 1995–05 Mar 1995
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Bibliography
Referenced in 1 publication
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Jackie Menzies, Contemporary Japanese Prints : The Urban Bonsai, Sydney, 1992, 25, 26 (colour illus.). cat.no. 7
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