Shinpei Kusanagi: A view from a platform

Mar 21 - Apr 20, 2024
  • “Standing on the platform which is anchored, motionless like a ship in the middle of ‘the white river with clear pure water (清澄白河)’ flowing through the space where everyone is just passing by, I wish to keep looking closely at a landscape which peeps out occasionally from the gap in the fog called reality, and which should be ‘here, right now’ that leads to someone else.”

    – Shinpei Kusanagi, Kiyosumi and its environs
  • Altman Siegel is pleased to present A view from a platform, an exhibition of new paintings by Shinpei Kusanagi. Employing gestural brushstrokes and washes of color on raw, untreated canvas, Kusanagi’s work captures natural ephemerality through observant abstraction.
  • Inspired by the transience of train platforms, a space dedicated solely to movement, Kusanagi’s resplendent paintings fluctuate between states of calm and energy. Sheer washes of color intermingle and overlap, creating mystifying shades. Brushstrokes of varying intensities and sharpness coalesce on the painting’s surface. Reminiscent of water rippling with the tide or grass swaying in the wind, these expressive marks evoke landscapes without referencing specific times or places.
  • Kusanagi begins painting without a plan, instead allowing movements and gestures to accumulate with time naturally. This practice encourages spontaneity, forming layered, sedimentary surfaces that hover and recede into deep space. This dynamic nature creates subtle tension, reflecting the robust, fleeting energy of our wider environment and the memories it elicits.
    • Shinpei Kusanagi Cage, 2024 Acrylic on canvas 63 3/4 x 51 in 162.1 x 129.5 cm
      Shinpei Kusanagi
      Cage, 2024
      Acrylic on canvas
      63 3/4 x 51 in
      162.1 x 129.5 cm
  • Altman Siegel: What do you hope people will take away from looking at your paintings?

    Shinpei Kusanagi: There is no specific message from me. My paintings are like mirrors. It is like a switch to dig out something from it, a view, a feeling, or a memory that you have inside of you. Mirrors and switches have no intention or intent.
  • AS: What do you think is the most misunderstood aspect of your art?
     
    SK: I think many abstract painters will say the same thing: I don't consider my paintings to be abstract.
    • Shinpei Kusanagi 404 not found, 2024 Acrylic on canvas 63 3/4 x 51 in 162.1 x 129.5 cm
      Shinpei Kusanagi
      404 not found, 2024
      Acrylic on canvas
      63 3/4 x 51 in
      162.1 x 129.5 cm
    • Shinpei Kusanagi CEYLON, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 63 3/4 x 51 in 162.1 x 129.5 cm
      Shinpei Kusanagi
      CEYLON, 2023
      Acrylic on canvas
      63 3/4 x 51 in
      162.1 x 129.5 cm
    • Shinpei Kusanagi JASMINE, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 63 3/4 x 51 in 162.1 x 129.5 cm
      Shinpei Kusanagi
      JASMINE, 2023
      Acrylic on canvas
      63 3/4 x 51 in
      162.1 x 129.5 cm
  • AS: What narrative or representational elements in your paintings might viewers miss, if any?
     
    SK: What the person misses has no meaning, and what he sees may or may not have meaning. Besides, the day may eventually come when you can see what you are missing now and you cannot see what you can see now.
    • Shinpei Kusanagi One and another, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 16 x 12 1/2 in 40.6 x 31.8 cm
      Shinpei Kusanagi
      One and another, 2023
      Acrylic on canvas
      16 x 12 1/2 in
      40.6 x 31.8 cm
    • Shinpei Kusanagi ASSAM, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 63 3/4 x 51 in 162.1 x 129.5 cm
      Shinpei Kusanagi
      ASSAM, 2023
      Acrylic on canvas
      63 3/4 x 51 in
      162.1 x 129.5 cm
  • AS: How does the imagery in your paintings develop? Do you use any source imagery like photos or drawings, or do the works originate from memory, imagination, and/or dreams?
     
    SK: There is no pre-drafting or planning involved in my work. It is an impromptu process, a conversation with the canvas. Therefore, even while I am painting, I do not know where the painting will end up or how it will be finished. Sometimes the conversation goes smoothly, and sometimes it gets so tangled that we end up in a fistfight. But in the end, we always find a landing point and settle on something that fits. I always find this strange and very interesting.
  • Shinpei Kusanagi’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Altman Siegel, San Francisco, CA; Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo,...
    2024/03/01 PM 3:53
    Shinpei Kusanagi’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Altman Siegel, San Francisco, CA; Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; SHOP Taka Ishii Gallery, Hong Kong, China; and Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan. Group exhibitions include Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan; Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan; Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL; Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan; and Palace Pocia, Vienna, Austria. The artist’s work can be found in the collections of the LOEWE Foundation; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan; The Rachofsky Collection, Dallas, TX; and the UBS Art Collection, London, UK.