Galleria Grafica Bis
Closes Saturday
If you take the definition of a specimen as "a small amount of something that shows what the rest of it is like," one can only wonder what is on Atsushi Kashiyama's mind. In his current exhibition, "My Specimen Box," now at Ginza's Galleria Grafica Bis (gallery.to/grafica), he presents us with a strange fleshlike substance he houses in Petri dishes and candy jars.
Though that might not sound like much, against the sparse white background of the gallery, these pliable pieces of "flesh" take on an unnerving human quality. At times they almost seem to be living, trapped in the world of their dishes and jars. In one work, the pinkish substance that lies enclosed in a Petri dish reaches up, clinging to the lid as if for air. In another, a not so lucky piece hangs suspended in its jar, bound in red string that presses hard into its skin, molding, shaping and almost bruising its body.
Though obvious references can be made to Surrealism and its desire to create dreamlike works that communicate the world of the mind, the question is who is the "my" Kashiyama refers to in his title. Has he put his own mental world on show like a scientific experiment? Or is he referring to society and its rules and regulations? It's hard to say, but like most surrealist art it touches a chord. What exactly that chord is, is another matter.
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