Repetition: Ken Matsubara

Repetition, Ken Matsubara

10 Chancery Lane Gallery is pleased to present Repetition, an exhibition of recent work by Japanese artist Ken Matsubara, from October 15 - November 7 2015.

Exhibited for the first time in Asia, Ken Matsubara’s Repetition is an installation of eleven video works presented in book form. These works derive from utilizing various old snapshots found by chance, and shooting images from the same location in comparison to where the snapshots were actually taken. Filming from such overlapping settings, the videos reflect a transition in time by reaffirming the absence of the figures found in the old snapshots and their possible courses of existence. By presenting such passage of association, the work attempts to disclose a fluctuating dialogue between the past and the future in endless state of repetition.

 

Artist’s Statement
I am trying to melt our sleeping recollections just as they are frozen at the bottom of our hearts.
My works are made using antique objects which people’s recollections have sunk into, containing photographs and movies imprinted with people’s recollections. The movie is very suitable for catching the movement of fluctuation and the fluctuation evokes recollections. I think that recollections are inherited from human to human through the past generations and DNA from the time of microorganisms, and that people can reach these common recollections that cross over the world’s various races and generations if we can awaken our own recollections. Thus, human beings are tied together by common recollections, and we will cross over those boundaries by sharing our recollections in the far future. In reality, we keep repeating a question without an answer toward rebirth, fluctuating between the past and the future.
 

About the artist

Born in 1949 in Japan, Ken Matsubara lives and works in Tokyo. Working primarily in video art, Matsubara uses photos, movies, objects and collage to address memories and histories to which we can all relate, regardless of our background, status or age. By recollecting shared memories, Matsubara believes that we can overcome individuality.

Ken Matsubara’s work is in institutional collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo and the Deutsche Bank Collection.

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