Institut Supérieur des Beaux-Arts de Besançon
Résidence // Mineki Murata

DE MARS À AVRIL 2013.

http://mineki-murata.com

"My artistic activities mainly consist of two parts : theguerrilla performances which make a strong impact on the viewers by presenting the unverbalized physical sensation through the overuse of my own body and muscles, and the exhibitions of installations created as the results of those performances. By involving myself with various elements found in a place for many hours, my act metamorphoses the quality of its space. I regard that place as “ba (場)” (= the site of performance) where the traces and energies created through my performances will be retained for long.
In my work I Speak about Many “No Comments”, I make drawings that I regard as unverbalized words, on every page of a dictionary. Through that simple action, the dictionary loses its original form and usefulness, the words diffuse and the wreckage metamorphoses into the material object.
In Japan, we respect a man talks less and demonstrates more. Talking about this aesthetic sense, we use the expression “ one’s back speaks”. The children grow up while observing their fathers’ wide backs. In my work My Back Speaks, I make drawings on my own back. I draw out on my back the reason for being there and the image both of which I received from my environment, the history and the landscape, etc. Now, the blanks emerge on my back, where my hand drawings cannot reach and cover. And, the blanks exposed beyond my physical limit could become my words.
In my work Gray Zone, I draw with black graphite over and over the ceiling, the floor and the walls of a 6 tatami-mat- sized room where those wood surfaces are eye-catching. Against the space turn black, I next draw over with white chalk. Now, the space becomes neither black nor white, but a grayish zone indicating ever-changing ambiguous color. That is exactly the impression I got from the town where I’d stayed.
In recent years, I extend my range of expression by producing three-dimensional works, paintings, drawings, videos or digital images, and setting up workshops. The subject matters or the approaches taken in those works originally derived from my performance works."


Institut Supérieur des Beaux Arts de Besançon I 12, rue Denis Papin, 25000 Besançon I T. +33 (0)3 81 87 81 30