Chie Matsui's second solo exhibition at Nomart, after 10 years, reflects on the theme of "Mirror".
The monotypes, resulting from the collaboration with Nomart, reveal fresh narratives.
Since the 1980s, Chie Matsui has captured attention with her narrative-driven installations, earning acclaim abroad, participating in exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Beyond installations, Matsui has showcased her artistic vision through diverse mediums such as video, photography, and painting. Throughout her nearly four-decade career, she has remained dedicated to the concept of her artworks as "symbolic vessels," consistently presenting them to viewers as instruments for storytelling.
In her debut solo exhibition at Nomart in 2014, entitled "a story," Matsui created screenprinted works in collaboration with Nomart's printmaking studio. The showcase featured three-dimensional artworks within the gallery, melding the space into an interconnected narrative stage.
For her first exhibition at Nomart in a decade, the artist returned to collaborate with the gallery on the theme of “Mirror,” creating numerous monotypes over an extended period. In monotype printmaking, an image is drawn or painted directly onto a smooth surface such as a sheet of glass or acrylic. Once the image is complete, it is transferred onto paper, resulting in a unique mirror-image of the original, reversed horizontally. The exhibition offers an opportunity to explore a variety of Matsui’s monotype works, accompanied by prose inspired by mirrors.
Additionally, Matsui will deliver a reading at the “MIRROR” event on the exhibition's closing day, aiming to convey her perspective on the exhibition through her voice and sound.
Over the course of her extensive career as an artist, Matsui has employed diverse approaches to engage the audience's imagination. What narratives will come to light from the "vessels" she presents?
We warmly invite you to delve into the exhibition "The Forsaken Mirror".
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[Artist Statement]
This time, the gallery owner suggested the theme of “Mirror” in connection with the monotype technique. I hesitated to accept this theme, as it felt like stepping into a bottomless swamp. However, I ultimately decided to embrace it, recognizing that I wouldn't know the outcome unless I tried. Monotype is a straightforward technique where paints and crayons are applied to an acrylic board and then transferred to paper. The resulting image is reversed from left to right, creating a simple texture without brushstrokes or raised areas of paint. Furthermore, only one impression can be made at a time. Why bother painting for the sake of creating a single transfer? The discrepancy between the profound word “Mirror” and the lightness of the finished surface was troubling and raised an unanswerable question. Below are some thoughts that arose during the process of creating this series of works.
"The Forsaken Mirror"
In the morning, I stand before the mirror and let out a deep breath.
The slightly clouded surface of the mirror reflects the aging visage of a sleep-frazzled woman. Behind her is a green chest of drawers, an unfinished picture, and a pile of laundry. With my phone I snap a photo of my reflection, then look at the image in the palm of my hand.
In these times, with the scabs of memory continually ripped away, weighed down by conflicting narratives, I am driven to explore unprecedented approaches and perspectives on storytelling.
The interlude before a scene becomes a spectacle, or vice versa, before the curtain rises on the stage, or even during the performance when actors wait in the wings to take the stage. These actors are us, living our daily lives, portraying ourselves. The light and the dark. Some interludes are spaces that let us move freely back and forth.
Our daily lives are a parade of sorrows and absurdities that are not easily healed. To reconstruct our narratives, we need spaces that become empty: galleries between exhibitions, boxes with their contents removed, hard drives with their data deleted. Monotype plates after printing, stripped of their color and imagery. These could be called interludes.
Have we stopped seeing ourselves in mirrors? In the dusk, my reflection has turned into a monotype, its pigment stripped away. A picture, emerging from the interlude, approaches from the other side of the mirror, letting out invisible breath.
Longing to meet again, full of the mischief of dawn and dusk, I let out a breath in front of this lone picture reflected in the mirror before me.
January 27, 2024 written by Chie Matsui
* Please refer to the following text for comments on the "interlude." >> LINK
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