Hangar Art Center Gallery is the place for the exhibition of Aki Kurodo, the first one-man show of the artist in Belgium since 1995. From 19 April to 13 June a series of new works made in 2016 and 2017, plus several emblematic paintings, can be discovered.
Aki Kuroda takes us to a world laden with ancient myths and stories from his country, Japan. He creates “passages” between different worlds: modernism and contemporary art, East and West, the body and the cosmos, mythology and the future. Very large colourful canvases take up the spaces of Hangar on the theme of the Cosmogarden (interior and external garden/everything is blended in a oneiric jungle).
Once again, as on various occasions in Japan, Aki Kuroda wanted to work together with architects. Hangar proposed a cooperation with students of interior architecture at the Mons school of art, Arts2, to build an ephemeral teahouse. This project, in line with Aki’s world and drawings, blends in with the setting of the exhibition. Aki Kuroda will also work with the young artist Belgo-Russian Marcin Sobolev, the will produce an installation composed of flowers and joint artistic creations.
Aki Kuroda
Aki Kuroda (1944) is a Japanese contemporary painter born in Kyoto. Passionate about painting since childhood, he likes to say that he has been painting since he could hold a brush. In 1970, Aki Kuroda settled in Paris and had his first one-man show in 1978 in Germany. He has had many such shows since in Europe but also in Japan, Brazil, the US, and China.In addition to his pictorial work, he creates performance shows by blending various artistic forms. A multi-faceted artist, his creative work spans many modes of expression. He works together with eminent personalities, particularly from the opera or architecture world. He has also been entrusted with several pubic commissions. Very close to literary circles as well, he publishes the Noise review, inspiring many writers, and has illustrated Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Satoru Toma
In Le Petit Hangar there is another exhibition, also from a Japanese artist, Satoru Toma (1976). A series of his photos exploring forgotten spaces, in particular, community vegetable gardens can be seen at the exhibition. In parallel with his photography work, Satoru also does calligraphy, an ancestral practice between writing and drawing, and links it to dance and performance. Satoru Toma lives in Brussels since the ’90s and in order to discover his new city he embarked on his photography project on the landscapes and territorial limits of the city.
Hangar Art Center can be found at the Place du Châtelain 18 in Brussels, opened from Tuesday till Saturday from 12.00 to 18.00 and by appointment.
Source: Hangart Art Center
