“Bones are located in the depths. Plastic covers the surface. Whiteness is a common feature that facilitates movement between inside and outside.”
Bones, plastic and whiteness are some of Teppei Kaneuji’s favourite things. Liquid, towers and stains are a few others. The young artist’s work with white resin on everyday plastic commodities relates not only to the whiteness of bones being brought to the outside, but to his fascination with snow. When he started out by covering found objects in white starch powder, he was inspired by how snow can make our familiar surroundings foreign, unifying all things under its blanket and stripping common objects of their meaning and purpose.
Though less well known, his work with paper and collage is equally compelling. An accidental coffee stain on a page was the catalyst for his Muddy Stream from Mug collage series: as a triumph over the mishap he cut out more stains on paper and composed them in meticulous and systematic ways, thereby making them no longer accidents. These then became sculptural paper works, going from 3D liquid to 2D stains on paper, and then back to three dimensions in a new solid form.
In a similar vein, his collages and sculptures comprising cut-outs of moisturiser and other liquid substances from magazine advertisements also confuse two dimensionality and three dimensionality – just as his assemblages with white resin (applied as liquid which then sets) appear like either frozen icicles or melting drops; once again somewhere in between liquid and solid.
His exhibition Melting City / Empty Forest at Yokohama Museum of Art earlier this year made him the youngest artist the Museum has featured in a solo show to date, and since then he has been in high demand. Now for the first time a taste of his work has arrived in Australia, with a series of drawings and a video instillation (above) at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney. Go check it out, I have an inkling we’ll be seeing a lot more from Teppei in the years to come.
[...] recent creations using plexiglas and other materials. Next in line will be up-and-comer Teppei Kaneuji, with Kengo Kito and Masanori Handa to [...]
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