New Orleans, LA- The New Orleans Museum of Art will open Traditions Transfigured: The Noh Masks of Bidou Yamaguchi Friday, October 9th, in conjunction with NOMA’s annual Japan Festival, which takes place Saturday, October 10, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The exhibition focuses on recent sculptures by the Japanese contemporary artist Bidou Yamaguchi (b. 1970) who employs the forms, techniques and transformative spirit of traditional Noh masks to create contemporary sculptures whose subjects are drawn from such iconic European paintings as Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. In addition, his recent works take inspiration from the Kabuki actor prints of Sharaku, Japan’s enigmatic 18th century portrait master. These works radically extend Noh’s transformation of souls across time and space, projecting them into new cultural and physical dimensions.
“NOMA is delighted to bring Bidou Yamaguchi’s masks to New Orleans which combines a true understanding for the centuries-old tradition of Noh theater and mask-carving with a contemporary sensibility to create never before seen mask forms,” said Susan M. Taylor, NOMA’s Montine McDaniel Freeman Director. “We look forward to him joining us to celebrate the opening of the exhibition with a mask he created specifically for NOMA inspired from a piece in our permanent collection.”
“Bidou himself, like his masks, represents two worlds; a contemporary artist trained as a graphic designer and a participant in Japan’s historic apprentice system where he trained with a master in the highly formalized, traditional structure before attaining the rank of master himself,” said Lisa Rotondo-McCord, Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Asian Art.
Born Yamaguchi Hiroki in 1970 in Fukuoka, Japan, Bidou attended the Kuwasawa Design School in Tokyo, where he studied sculpture and graphic design. After working in the graphic design industry in Japan, he decided to pursue an art career outside of this commercial context and, after a period of experimentation and self-taught Noh mask carving, he apprenticed with master carver Ogawa Gendou, who granted him master status and presented him with the art name Bidō (Bidou) in 1996.
The exhibition features several aspects of Bidou’s work and takes as its premise that his art is informed by the world of Noh theater. Bidou’s “reproduction” masks follow well-established traditions and depict specific characters in specific plays. These masks, as well as woodblock prints by master print designer Tsukioka Kogyo, a selection of Noh robes (drawn from NOMA’s permanent collection), and a video of a Noh performance, introduce Noh theater and the overall context in which Bidou works.
The core of the exhibition is his series of European portraits, wherein the artist creates uncanny three-dimensional transformations of the subject of iconic oil paintings. He “transfigures” subjects like Lisa Gherardini-whose image has become so well known (as the Mona Lisa) that they all but cease to exist as humans- into contemporary versions of a Noh mask. This act is analogous to the procedure of intercession or recuperation in the texts of Noh plays. However, unlike Noh, Bidou gives a new body—literally, a face with the potential of speaking—to individuals who have been turned into “ghosts” through their celebrity.
Traditions Transfigured: The Noh Masks of Bidou Yamaguchi was developed by UAM in cooperation with Dr. Kendall Brown and the CSULB Museum Studies Students. Artworks are on loan from artist Bidou Yamaguchi; the Kelly Sutherlin McLeod and Steve McLeod Collection; Scripps College, Claremont, CA; USC Pacific Asia Museum Collection, Gift of Peter Ries; Sebastian Izzard, LLC; and the Target Corporate Collection. Photography © 2013 UAM.
The New Orleans presentation is sponsored in part by the Japan Foundation, New York.
About NOMA and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden
The New Orleans Museum of Art, founded in 1910 by Isaac Delgado, houses nearly 40,000 art objects encompassing 4,000 years of world art. Works from the permanent collection, along with continuously changing special exhibitions, are on view in the museum’s 46 galleries Fridays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The adjoining Sydney and Walda Besthoff SculptureGarden features work by over 60 artists, including several of the 20th century’s master sculptors. The Sculpture Garden is open seven days a week: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden are fully accessible to handicapped visitors and wheelchairs are available from the front desk. For more information about NOMA, call (504) 658-4100 or visit www.noma.org. Wednesdays are free admission days for Louisiana residents, courtesy of The Helis Foundation. (May not include special exhibitions.) Teenagers (ages 13-19) receive free admission every day through the end of 2015, courtesy of The Helis Foundation.
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