MASARU TAKANASHI'S SCULPTURES EXHIBITION

Service Description

It ranked Lingbi Stone high among all types of Chinese scholars' rocks because Lingbi Stone has been regarded as a Confucian ritual symbol, the desktop decoration of the elites' study, and the passage that connects the literati's inner mind and the cosmos, but never as an individual artwork to be appreciated in its own right. Masaru Takanashi specialises in the rock of Chinese scholars. With the knowledge of scholars' rock's thousand-year history, he has published a number of studies and catalogs on the topic. He thoroughly explored and meticulously discussed the scholars' rocks' shape and texture, original production locations, aesthetic styles, text and image documentation, as well as technical details such as the carving and colouring process and the making of the stand, in his Classical Chinese Stones. Having a thorough understanding of its Chinese cultural context, he sought reference and inspiration from western contemporary art, particularly contemporary sculpture. He studied the role of stones in the art of Henry Moore, Constantin Brancusi, and Isamu Noguchi, and developed a body of work that is impossible to categorise by traditional medium, which we called stone works. An artwork's success is primarily determined by its creator's artistic choice and judgement. Although the precious Lingbi Stone has natural beauty, it is the artist's intervention in art history that consciously constructs and creates beauty. Masaru Takanashi's works defied the "admiring nature" convention that had guided the appreciation of Chinese scholars' rock for centuries, and reshaped the contemporary audience's appreciation of Lingbi Stone. What he truly attempted to reshape was the habit of appreciating art, to liberate Chinese audiences from the traditional and stagnant habit of appreciating scholars' rock and to enable them to properly appreciate contemporary art and embrace the zeitgeist of our time. Masaru Takanashi's first solo exhibition in China is titled "Reshaping - Masaru Takanashi Stone Works Exhibition." It features eighteen three-dimensional installation pieces made of the Lingbi Stone, a type of Chinese scholar's rock. His new book, "Chinese Tone Appreciation Deserves a Cut," was also published. Tips: - Sun, Sep 15 @ 10 : 30 am - Thu, Oct 24 @ 6 : 00 pm - AroundSpace Gallery, Suite 703, 33 Sichuan Middle Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, China - Closed on Mondays (except statutory holidays)