Odani Motohiko at Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan)

Odani Motohiko: Phantom Limb
Mori Art Museum
27 November, 2010 – 27 February, 2011

Since studying sculpture at Tokyo University of the Arts, Odani Motohiko has created a body of work using diverse techniques and materials that undermines the conventional notions of sculpture. His unique style of expression and aesthetic sense have won him acclaim both in Japan and abroad, and in 2003 he was selected as one of the artists to represent Japan at the Venice Biennale.
Odani’s works on the themes of physical sensations and psychological states, such as pain and fear, awaken latent thoughts and emotions in their viewers. A dress made of hair, an animal in a restraining device, a mysterious young girl, a samurai’s wraith-like emaciated horse: The complex images in the works defy single interpretations and possess an ominous charm that exists somewhere between beauty and ugliness, life and death and the spiritual and the secular. Odani, who possesses a keenly critical understanding of sculpture, has resisted (or taken advantage of) the medium’s conventional image of weightiness or substance. Instead, he has given physical representation to “phantoms” – entirely ephemeral sensations or amorphous phenomena. In this exhibition, we explore the essence of Odani’s art, bringing together works from early in his 10-year career to the present. Also included are a large interactive installation – a kind of “video sculpture” – and new works exploring natural forces such as gravity and rotation. With Odani’s artworks transcending the conventional idea of sculpture and seeking to give visual representation to existence itself, this exhibition pursues new possibilities for artistic expression.
This exhibition is scheduled to tour to Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto