O JUN has produced 14 days 119 years later, in response to a series of Ukiyo-e prints portraying imagined female ‘Beauty’ by Toyohara Chikanobu from 1897, which are also on show in the gallery.
In O JUN’s work, depiction, detail and narrative, while clearly evident through his bold graphic and visual fluency, are somewhat undermined, destabilised, enriched and bothered. We are left in a state of uncertainty. Wistful, poignant, poised but also confusing with a contemporary brashness, his work appears to view Japanese culture (and humanity in general) deeply and gently from the inside, and with amused sympathy from the outside.
Notions of interpretation, representation and beauty are further troubled in O JUN’s performance video made in collaboration with Takashi Ishida.
Curated by Tomiko O’Brien.
With special thanks to: The Mizuma Art Gallery, The City & Guilds of London Art School, The Japan Foundation, Mizuki Takahashi, Hayato Fujioka, Professor Timon Screech and Simon Wright.
Image Credit: O JUN, “14 days 119 years later – the 3rd day” and “14 days 119 years later – the 4th day,” 2016. Courtesy of the artist and the Danielle Arnaud Gallery. Photograph by Oskar Proctor.
