Goro Murayama | Painting Folding

Takuro Someya Contemporary Art is pleased to present Goro Murayama’s solo exhibition Painting Folding . Murayama has participated in a number of group exhibitions and projects at TSCA, beginning with the 2013 exhibition Yusuke Asai, Enrico Isamu Oyama, Goro Murayama | Generating Visuals – Inspiring Circuits . This current exhibition, on view from December 19, 2020 through January 16, 2021, is Murayama’s first solo exhibition at TSCA. Goro Murayama (1983-), whose education is in painting, engages with the contemporary life science question “How does the world emerge?” through an expansive art practice involving the body and actions. Murayama began his career with a series of woven paintings involving a process of immense repetition, in which the artist weaves organic linen, then applies oil paint along the boundaries which emerged in the weaving. In 2009, two large-scale works from the series, measuring close to 3 meters, were added to the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo collection. His following works, which include cellular automaton drawings as well as image and video composed of elements cut out and recombined, demonstrate Murayama’s command of diverse media. They also show his adherence to a consistent approach, in which biological processes and patterns such as evolution, learning, and self-organization are explored under a set of recursive rules. Computer simulations, which hold a critical place in the epistemology of modern science, are a central motif in Murayama’s works, developed materially through production (poiesis). In recent years, he has turned his attention to AI-based biometrics (face and gait) technology. The work he presented at Aichi Triennale 2019 illuminates the nature of human perception in reverse, through systems that allow machines to detect humans. Collaboration with scientists is increasingly important to Murayama’s work. The pandemic of 2020 has revealed the epistemological state of our humanity, one based on computers and media. Knowledge of molecular biology and computer simulations is essential for understanding viruses and infection mechanisms. Information and communication technologies have greatly aided in the communication of infection prevention measures, particularly under lockdown. In the face of these highly specialized sciences and technologies, however, human intuition has become weakened. How can the vast amount of information accessible to individuals be reconciled with the available options for action? Through Murayama’s works, it becomes possible to consider how to untangle and weave together a new aesthetic. His works foreshadow the key role to be played by the field of emergent science, such as world awareness through simulation and information generation in networks, in answering this question. In this exhibition, Murayama will present his signature woven paintings in addition to new works which reference the folding process of three-dimensional structures in protein folding, closely related to the structure of viruses. Murayama’s artistic practice, which brings the epistemology of science and technology to the human imagination, holds significant meaning in our present moment. ________________ Goro Murayama (b. 1983) is an artist based in Tokyo. He is a part-time lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts (Oil-Painting Department) and Musashino Art University (Oil Painting), as well as a visiting researcher at the International Research Center for Philosophy. Through his paintings and drawings, he aims to express processes and patterns of self-organization. Murayama received his Ph.D. in Oil Painting from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2015. From 2015 to 2017, he participated in the Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists, sponsored by the Japanese government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, as a visiting researcher in Global World/Intercultural Philosophy at the University of Vienna. Recent exhibitions include, among others: DOMANI: The Art of Tomorrow, The National Art Center, Tokyo (2019), Setouchi Triennale 2019, Ogijima Kagawa (2019), Aichi Triennale 2019: Taming Y/Our Passion, Aichi (2019), The museum of plastic nation, AISHONANZUKA, Hong Kong (2018), and Emergence of Order, Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London (2018). ________________ Goro Murayama | Painting Folding Exhibition Period: Saturday, December 19, 2020 – Saturday, February 13, 2021 Closed for Holiday: Thursday, December 31, 2020 – Monday, January 4, 2021 Open: Tue~Fri 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Closed: Sun, Mon and National Holidays Takuro Someya Contemporary Art TSCA 3F TERRADA Art Complex 1-33-10 Higashi-Shinagawa Shinagawa-ku Tokyo 140-0002 Japan TEL 03-6712-9887 ｜FAX 03-4578-0318 ｜E-MAIL: gallery@tsca.jp ________________ - All visitors will be required to wear a mask upon entry into the gallery - All visitors will be asked to disinfect their hands with alcohol spray at the entrance - Entrance will be limited to 3 people at one time - We ask that anyone with the following symptoms refrain from visiting the gallery: * Temperature over 37 degrees Celsius * Any cold symptoms (including fever, coughing, sneezing, sore throat) * Strong fatigue or difficulty breathing * Received a COVID-19 diagnosis or been in close recent contact with someone who has received a COVID-19 diagnosis * Other concerns about their health