Japan Society

PAST EXHIBITION

Contemporary Art, Ancient Materials: A Conversation with Tanabe Shochiku III

November 6, 2008—November 6, 2008

Although bamboo is among East Asia’s most abundant natural resources, it was not until the 1500s that bamboo objects came to be widely appreciated as works of art. Today this young tradition has entered a golden age of craftsmanship and innovation. Japan Society presents one of Japan’s greatest (and charismatic) contemporary bamboo artists, Tanabe Shochiku III, to discuss his perspective on the artistic choices and dilemmas that modern bamboo artists face as contemporary Japanese bamboo expresses the creative tensions between past, present, and future. American artist Stephen Talasnik, also featured in New Bamboo, joins the discussion moderated by Joe Earle.

Born to one of Japan's most prestigious bamboo pedigrees, Tanabe Shochiku III gravitated towards bamboo from a very young age, creating his first piece when he was only 7 or 8. Like his father, Tanabe Chikuunsai III, he attended art school and earned a degree in sculpture. He is the chosen son, slated to become Tanabe Chikuunsai IV, representing the fourth generation of bamboo artists in his family. He continues to work alongside his esteemed father in the elder's Osaka studio. Tanabe has received many accolades, including the Mayor's Award at the Sakai City Art Exhibition in 2001 and the Osaka Craft Exhibition Choice Award at the All Kansai Art Exhibition in 2004.
 
Stephen Talasnik studied art and design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and the Tyler School of Art. In 1987, he moved to Tokyo to teach drawing and design at Temple University Japan and for the next few years studied contemporary Japanese architecture and design. After settling in New York, he began focusing more on designing sculpture. His ongoing work explores the language of intuitive engineering and architecture and is included in numerous international public collections. Panorama: The Mapping of Prediction, an exhibition of Talasnik's architecturally inspired drawings is on view through November 30, 2008 at The Queens Museum of Art.
 
Joe Earle became Vice President and Gallery Director of Japan Society in 2007. Throughout the 1990s he organized a wide range of exhibitions in the United Kingdom, Japan, United States, and Europe, and catalogued numerous private collections of Japanese art. In 2003 he was named the first Chair of the Department of Art of Asia, Oceania, and Africa at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where he made several important acquisitions of Japanese bamboo art and curated an exhibition, Beyond Basketry, that featured both traditional baskets and works by some of the artists included in this exhibition.
 

Visit Gallery