Taro Nasu Osaka
Closes in 44 days
Takeharu Ogai has turned a brand new gallery into a gift shop. For the inaugural solo exhibition at Taro Nasu Osaka, a branch of the Roppongi-based Taro Nasu that opened in June, the artist filled the gallery with his organic, endearing sculptures -- mostly made from what he found in the forest near his studio in Yamanashi Prefecture.
Ogai must have thought hard how to fight the constraints of this interesting but undoubtedly difficult space. First of all, it's small, with only 26 sq. meters of exhibition area; and second, the architect, Jun Aoki, placed a little movable room -- with a wine cellar and a bar -- on wheels inside the deep, narrow gallery. Where to leave it in the gallery was up to the artist. Ogai set it in the center, to divide the gallery into a front and a back part.
The front works as the reception area of the "shop," where he presents playful artworks such as "Planet," 10 muddy balls that each sport a different color and texture. The rear is a slightly bigger space with a mysterious aura. There, three long sticks rest against the wall, producing beautiful shadows that resemble a goose, a lion and a giraffe when illuminated from a certain angle. The artist also twisted thorny branches and pine cones into a pretty tiara he calls "Wild Rose Crown." In this tiny gallery, surrounded by what feel like keepsakes from a childhood summer trip, you'll never want to leave the "shop."
