Toshio Matsumoto

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*For My Crushed Right Eye (つぶれかかった右眼のために)*, 1968
Image courtesy of the artist, Empty Gallery and PJMIA

*Atman (アートマン)*, 1975
Image courtesy of the artist, Empty Gallery and PJMIA

*The Weavers of Nishijin (西陣)*, 1961
Image courtesy of the artist, Empty Gallery and PJMIA

*Everything Visible Is Empty (色即是空)*, 1975

Image courtesy of the artist, Empty Gallery and PJMIA

Installation view, Toshio Matsumo

Image courtesy of the artist, Empty Gallery and PJMIA

*Expansion (エクスパンション)*, 1972
Image courtesy of the artist, Empty Gallery and PJMIA

*Funeral Parade of Roses (薔薇の葬列)* , 1969.
Image courtesy of the artist, Empty Gallery and PJMIA

*Black Hole (ブラックホール),* 1977
Image courtesy of the artist, Empty Gallery and PJMIA

*White Hole (ホワイトホール)*, 1979
Image courtesy of the artist, Empty Gallery and PJMIA

*The Song Of Stone (石の詩)*, 1963

Image courtesy of the artist, Empty Gallery and PJMIA

Toshio Matsumoto was a Japanese film director, video artist, and visual theorist who was widely considered a pivotal figure of Japan’s post-war artistic avant-garde. He first came to prominence through his collaboration with artist collective Jikken Kobo on the film Ginrin in 1955, initiating a career-long interest in experimental sound and electronic music which would be reflected in his output over the next few decades. He subsequently created an eclectic body of work comprising experimental documentaries, structuralist films, and early video art while continuing to be influential as a critic, theorist, and educator. Recent presentations of Matsumoto’s work have included “The World Goes Pop” at Tate Modern and “Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde” at MoMa, among others.

FILMOGRAPHY

2012

Toro Ax Part.3 蟷螂の斧・第1部見るということ

2011

Toro Ax Part.2 蟷螂の斧・第2部記憶巡礼

2009

Toro Ax Part.1 蟷螂の斧・第3部万象無常

2006

A Story Is Made Like This 物語はかくしてつくられる

1992

A Trap of Narratology ナラトロジーの罠

Dissimulation ディシミュレーション＝偽装

1990

Old/New Old/New＝気配

U-Land Story ウランド伝説

1989

Trauma トラウマ

luminous Globe ルミナス・グローブ

1988

Dogra Magra ドグラ・マグラ

1987

Engram エングラム＝記憶痕跡

1986

Spreading Computer World 広がるコンピューターの世界

Articulation アーティキュレーション＝分節

Multi Connection マルチコネクション

1985

Sway スウェイ＝揺らぎ

Vibration バイブレーション

EE Control EEコントロール

1984

Delay Exposure ディレイエクスポージャー

Wave ウェーブ

1983

Formation フォーメーション＝形成

Kumadori 隈取

1982

Shift シフト＝断

Relation リレーション＝関係

Ema 絵馬

1981

Connection コネクション

1980

氣 Ki or Breathing

Cosmic Relation コズミック・リレーション

Kimoto 生酛

1979

Kendaraan Rakyat Colt T120 民衆の足コルト

White Hole ホワイトホール

Aquarium 水族館

Hands ハンズ

Double 二重像＝ダブル

Illumination イリュミネーション

1978

Enigma エニグマ＝謎

1977

Black Hole ブラックホール

1976

Transceiver of Cybernet トランシーバー・オブ・サイバネット

Uterus ユーテラス＝子宮

Kite 凧

1976 (1973)

War of Sixteen 十六歳の戦争

1975

Murder Catalog 殺人カタログ

Atman アートマン

Siki Soku Ze Ku 色即是空

Phantom ファントム＝幻妄

A Girl 青女

Aoi no Ue トータルシアター葵の上

A Town of Meeting 出会いの街

1974

Morning Dew モーニング・デュウ＝朝露

Andy Warhol: Re-reproduction アンディ・ウォーホル＝複々製

Fly フライ＝飛ぶ

Multiple Video “Mona Lisa” マルチプルヴィデオモナリザ

1973

Mona Lisa モナリザ

1972

Community Life コミュニティライフ

Expansion エクスパンション＝拡張）

Autonomy オートノミー＝自律性

1971

Metastasis メタスタシス＝新陳代謝

Shura 修羅

1970

Space Projection AKO スペース・プロジェクション・アコ

1969

Ecstasis エクスタシス＝恍惚

Funeral Parade of Roses 薔薇の葬列

Shadow シャドウ

Projection for Icon イコンのためのプロジェクション

1968

Magnetic Scramble マグネチック・スクランブル

For the Damaged Right Eye つぶれかかった右眼のために

A Tale of Two Cities Tokyo and Matsue

1967

12 Methods for Beautiful Skin 素肌美のための十二章

Mothers 母たち

1966

Mihama Nuclear Power Plant Part.1 美浜原子力発電所

1965

Harumi Pier Warehouse 晴海埠頭倉庫

1964

Ciascuno a Suo Modo 嘘もほんとも裏から見れば

1963

The Song of Stone 石の詩

1962

I Am Nylon 私はナイロン

Document of the Long Black Shadow 黒い長い影の記録

1961

Nishijin 西陣

1960

Document of the Long White Line 白い長い線の記録

1959

300 tons trailer 300トン・トレーラー

Security Treaty 安保条約

Children Calling Spring 春を呼ぶ子ら進路指導シリーズ・展望編

1958

Growing Power 伸びゆく力

1957

Caisson 潜函

1956

Bicycle in Dream 銀輪


2024-09-27	James T. Hong at Argo Factory, Tehran
	I Am Standing in the Middle of the Information Highway and Laughing is a new exhibition curated by Raha Raissnia and Martin Germann, opening August 16 through October 18 at the Argo Factory in Tehran. Taking its title from late artist Jonas Mekas’ Manifesto Anti-100 years of Cinema, a performative exhibition in Tehran will unfold over two different episodes. Its main aim is to celebrate the unbound energy of collaborative work and friendship on the one hand and moments of reflection and stillness on the other. Its point of departure is the Manichean binary between darkness and light, as sine qua non condition for the existence of technologically mediated images. The second chapter of the exhibition, curated by Martin Germann, opens on Friday, September 27, with Marco Fusinato, James T. Hong, Tiffany Sia and Sam Lewitt. Read more …
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2024-09-20	Vunkwan Tam in Improvisation at Inside Out Museum, Beijing, curated by Carol Yinghua Lu
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2024-09-19	Empty Gallery Staff Announcement
	Empty Gallery is pleased to announce the appointment of Alexander Lau as senior director, and Kaitlin Chan as director. Lau has served as director of the gallery, and its associated label Empty Editions, for over nine years, and been foundational in the development of our exhibition program and artist roster. Based in New York and Hong Kong, Lau also sits on the board of Primary Information (NYC). Chan joined the gallery in 2020 as associate, and has since contributed to over ten exhibitions as an artist liaison, as well as through public programming, communications, art fairs and sales. Chan is also a cultural worker who creates comics and lectures on self-publishing amongst other topics.
2024-09-19	Henry Shum in Bodily Powers at Crèvecœur, Paris
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2024-09-17	Taro Masushio in formazione di forme.. curated by Matilde Guidelli-Guidi at Felix Gaudlitz, Vienna
	formazione di forme.. curated by Matilde Guidelli-Guidi at Felix Gaudlitz, Vienna, as part of curated by 2024, is on view from 17 September through October 19, 2024. The exhibition features works by Alighiero Boetti, Aria Dean, Taro Masushio, and Samson Young, chosen for their distinct approach to form-making. Masushio took the Untitled (Youth) pictures in San Francisco in the early aughts, at a time of youthful infatuation with the aesthetics and techniques of formalist photography. He shot the SoMa scene through that lens: analog camera and the zone system, the body flattened and closely cropped in black-and-white symmetries. Finding those negatives in his archive last summer arose feelings of embarrassment toward his puppy love days. An embarrassment that he worked through, coming face to face with that innocent attraction to formalism, and by extension to a younger self, that is akin to kink. So that in the printing process, he treated the negatives to further heighten the compositional elements in ways that replay the darkroom devotion of his youth. Masushio said: “Vis-à-vis my personal history, I want to propose a provocation of (modernist?) aesthetics and the taboo of being a formalist, which I thought was kind of kinky. (A kind of parallel between concept/ form vs norm/ taboo). But there is always a bit of embarrassment about making these kinds of (po-mo) gestures, too.” The form/ affect dyad shifts valence from attraction to embarrassment to kink in the reception of these works. Which is real? This fractal approach to the archive is typical of his overall method. An earlier body of work emerged from fortuitously finding, in a temporary lodging, a box of prints and recognizing them as the work of the late Jun’icha En’ya—an elusive figure and one of the earliest Japanese photographers of homoerotica. A visit to En’ya’s environs in Osaka generated Masushio’s works: photographs of pencil-traced snapshots that he furtively took in En’ya’s archives, and still-life pictures of the objects that En’ya owned or that he might have. Between Masushio and the En’ya “idea” there is no articulated relationship of influence. Form escapes filiation there: the pressure of the archival materials and the pencil pressing against paper. Read more …
2024-09-07	Tishan Hsu in Interface Remix, MoCA Toronto
	Tishan Hsu’s solo exhibition Interface Remix at MOCA Toronto opens to the public on Sunday, September 8.  “Interface Remix” showcases key works from the past five decades of Hsu’s career alongside never-before-seen creations that explore themes of transformation and alienation. In his first ever Canadian solo exhibition, Hsu’s groundbreaking work navigates the intersection of technology and the human body through his multidisciplinary practice spanning painting, sculpture, and installation. Hsu will also be in conversation with Alex Da Corte on September 8th at 2PM in an accompanying program. Read more …
2024-09-04	Works by Mickael Marman, Emmanuel Louisnord Desir, & Cici Wu at 47 Canal
	Cici Wu’s Lovers Revolt, Lovers Resolve (Reincarnations of Lantern), 2020, is now on view at 47 Canal through September 14 in a group presentation with Mickael Marman and Emmanuel Louisnord Desir. Read more …
2024-08-23	Jes Fan in Dream States, Groundspace of The Metropolitan Museum of Manila
	Jes Fan’s Bivalve II is now on view at Dream States, Groundspace of The Metropolitan Museum of Manila, through January 2025. Artists: Jes Fan, Katharina Grosse, Michael Ho, and Olafur Eliasson. Special thanks to Tim Tan.
2024-08-15	Raha Raissnia at Argo Factory, Pejman Foundation
	I Am Standing in the Middle of the Information Highway and Laughing is a new exhibition curated by Raha Raissnia and Martin Germann, opening August 16 through October 18 at the Argo Factory in Tehran. Taking its title from late artist Jonas Mekas’ Manifesto Anti-100 years of Cinema, a performative exhibition in Tehran will unfold over two different episodes. Its main aim is to celebrate the unbound energy of collaborative work and friendship on the one hand and moments of reflection and stillness on the other. Its point of departure is the Manichean binary between darkness and light, as sine qua non condition for the existence of technologically mediated images. For the first chapter of the exhibition, a number of artists have been carefully selected by Raha Raissnia to accompany two of her own works. In the spirit of Mekas’s Manifesto, they are all friends whom she has known personally from many years of living and working in New York City. Artists: Jonas Mekas, Raha Raissnia, Andrew Chalk, Pip Chodorov, Martha Colburn, Milton Cruz, Albert Herter, Andrew Lampert, Jeanne Liotta, Timo Van Luijk, Panagiotis Mavridis, Jordan Mintzer, Jason Babak Mohaghegh, Stom Sogo and Justina Zukauskaite Read more …

Bodily Powers is now on view at Galerie Crevecouer (9 rue des Cascades, Paris) through November 2, 2024.

FILMOGRAPHY