"Be free as you like!!" / "The Sound of Bamboo Played by the Wind" in 2020

Summary

The two special exhibitions launcing this summer

The ground floor of the museum will be dominated by cat, Hoppe, colourful and detailed drawings by MATSUMOTO Michiko while you could also enjoy the installation of bamboo and sound by a wonder artist, MATSUMOTO Akinori.


"Be free as you like!!" featuring MATSUMOTO Michiko

The first special exhibition for the eleventh year at Museum of Picture Book Art features MATSUMOTO Michiko. Suffered from schizophrenia in 2000, the artist has been drawing a couple of thousands “Hoppe”, a beloved pet cat who rescued her from suffering. The colourful and precise patterns drawn without draft stays in your memory once seen and every expression of the cat captured is adorable. The exhibition will enable you to appreciate MATSUMOTO’s world view and make you feel you are surrounded by the cat as you walk throughout the museum. 

≪Comment from the artist≫
My daily schedule is almost fixed.
It is more or less the same everyday.
I could understand sadness could cause damage to your body but pleasure and fun could do the same.
Even I love pleasure and fun.
It is almost impossible to cope with anything other than producing artworks.
I am not sure if I am free or not but I have become much free than before.
My feeling, in particular.

Photo Yoneyama Noriko

Photo Yoneyama Noriko

Photo Yoneyama Noriko


"The Sound of Bamboo Played by the Wind" by MATSUMOTO Akinori

The other special exhibition taking place simultaneously welcomes MATSUMOTO Akinori who makes sound objects playing beautiful tunes using bamboo. He will make artworks on site at the museum which plays sounds as wind blows. The ever-changing shadows of the sound objects and overlapping of sounds made by chance spread like a story inside and outside of the museum. 

≪Comment from the artist≫
I have been using bamboo for my work from around 35 years ago. As it is a natural material, it is hard to turn it into the shape I like to make. However, there is a moment when bamboo speaks to me how it wants to be as I touch it by cutting, curving and bending. I know I could make a unique work when my dialogue with bamboo is successful.

Photo Yoneyama Noriko

Photo Yoneyama Noriko

Photo Yoneyama Noriko


About artists

MATSUMOTO Michiko

Borin in 1973.
Developed schizophrenia in 2000. Joined Studio Cooca in 2010 and encountered innocent people who easily came closer to her beyond the wall she built around herself. Such encounter enabled her to relax and draw. She was given a beloved pet cat, Hoppe from JSPCA in 2011. Participated in Art Fair Tokyo in 2015. She has been engaging with range of projects since then.

MATSUMOTO Akinori

Born in 1951.
He has been creating sound-tool / sound objects since 1980s and presented them which make sound by themselves at museums and outdoors. As a wonder artist, Matsumoto uses bamboo as a primary material for his works and makes use of electricity, human power and natural energies such as wind and water to play his sound objects.

Matsumoto Akinori Michiko

Summary

Date and time Thursday 23 July - Monday 23 November, 2020
Venue

Museum of Picture Book Art(2310-1 Ko Sanada, Tokamachi-city, Niigata)

Admission Adult JPY800 / Child age between 7 and 15 JPY300
Stay In Touch

Stay connected with the ETAT official social media to receive the latest news and event information, and the many seasonal faces of Echigo-Tsumari as well as new issue of the ETAT official media, “Art from the Land”.