Palais de Tokyo is presenting the first large-scale solo show in France by Taro Izumi (born in 1976, lives in Tokyo).
In Japan, Taro Izumi is a singular artist. He has developed a world which is expressed in installations, sculptures and videos, whose appearance processes are associated with accidents, play or perturbation.
The installations that he constructs from ludic hypotheses are a source of forms, sculptures and murals which, often thanks to their absurdity, become extraordinarily unexpected items that humorously thwart our artistic and social customs. For example, the invention of mounts composed of everyday elements – chairs, tables, stools, cushions – which are rapidly assembled so as to welcome a body imitating the vigour of a sportsman in action, leads to something which is at once astonishing, a parody of the dream bodies of stadium heroes and a fascinating commentary on the history of the plinth in sculpture.
In a context such as Japan, which is quite normative because of its culture and its social organisation, the turbulence of reality, unexpected noises, paradoxical
behaviours, and the performed situations that Taro Izumi presents, all create the impression of having been produced by wicked spirits that meddle with our lives and make fun of our customs. In the Shinto religion of Japan, some kamis or venerated natural spirits play this same role as occasionally dangerous tricksters. They slip into familiar spaces and make havoc of our lives and habits, and this is just what Taro Izumi, trickster-artist, enfant terrible, conceptual rogue, does while deliciously imagining that everything could be so different.
Taro Izumi is 2017 SAM Art Projects resident
In Japan, Taro Izumi is a singular artist. He has developed a world which is expressed in installations, sculptures and videos, whose appearance processes are associated with accidents, play or perturbation.
The installations that he constructs from ludic hypotheses are a source of forms, sculptures and murals which, often thanks to their absurdity, become extraordinarily unexpected items that humorously thwart our artistic and social customs. For example, the invention of mounts composed of everyday elements – chairs, tables, stools, cushions – which are rapidly assembled so as to welcome a body imitating the vigour of a sportsman in action, leads to something which is at once astonishing, a parody of the dream bodies of stadium heroes and a fascinating commentary on the history of the plinth in sculpture.
In a context such as Japan, which is quite normative because of its culture and its social organisation, the turbulence of reality, unexpected noises, paradoxical
behaviours, and the performed situations that Taro Izumi presents, all create the impression of having been produced by wicked spirits that meddle with our lives and make fun of our customs. In the Shinto religion of Japan, some kamis or venerated natural spirits play this same role as occasionally dangerous tricksters. They slip into familiar spaces and make havoc of our lives and habits, and this is just what Taro Izumi, trickster-artist, enfant terrible, conceptual rogue, does while deliciously imagining that everything could be so different.
Taro Izumi is 2017 SAM Art Projects resident
