If you haven’t been able to take a dekko at Japanese artist Masakatsu Sashie’s brilliant solo exhibition Micro Invasion at Anima Gallery, The Pearl, fret not. With the Gallery now having graciously extended the exhibition’s run until mid-September, you can catch it even after you return to Doha from the longest holidays.
The well-known Japanese artist’s signature orb paintings of the “fictional world, filled with futuristic warnings about human’s tendencies for environmental dominance and over-consumption,” are as much a source for wide-eyed wonder as they are a trigger for a flood of questions, curiosities and concerns. Sashie’s creations inhabit a world where doom and danger are silently taking over our lives.
Sashie’s gently-floating massive orbs are created out of scraps of old constructions from the Showa-period – a period of enlightened peace and harmony, period of radiant Japan during the time of reign of the Showa Emperor, Hirohito, from 1926 to 1989 – and pieces of mass production and mass consumption culture, explains a note on the exhibition. Things like vending machines, pachinko parlours or fast food signs and video game components are woven into Masakatsu’s imagery in his orb painting.
Iliana Kodzhamanova, Sales and Marketing Executive, Anima Gallery, told Community, “What makes this exhibition special is that it’s the debut solo show in the Gulf region of a prominent Japanese artist. Since the summer period is very quiet in Qatar, the exhibition was extended in order to give it a chance to reach larger number of people and raise awareness that our actions (or lack of actions) today will have an impact on our children’s lives tomorrow on a global social and environmental scale. The exhibition might be seen as a look forward to a possible future.”
Kodzhamanova pointed out that by mixing together elements from the Showa-period and symbols of the modern consumerist world, such as vending machines and pachinko parlours, Sashie depicts “a world between a nostalgic past and a post-apocalyptic future”.
At the launch of his exhibition, Sashie had told Community, “I wanted to paint everything in one frame; my home, my neighbourhood, my region and the cosmos – all of these together. That’s where the quest for the orb paintings began. As far as I can remember, I have always had this theme in my head.” By this, he was referring to the orbs perpetually hovering over landscapes that are essentially landfills full of rolling hills of glowing televisions, tyres, vending machines, vehicles, and many such factory manufactured products.
Art critics have found Sashie’s work to have a fantasy “old Japan” look about them, in the way he manages to mix elements of Japanese architecture from the post-World War II era with fantasy or science fiction motifs. The complete absence of human figures in Sashie’s work is also deliberate – he doesn’t want to give away a sense of time, space, or what direction or scale to think, on a platter to his viewer.
Born in 1974 in Kanazawa, Japan, which is also where he currently lives, Sashie has imbibed the rich traditional art heritage of his city as much as he has attuned himself to its ever-rising contemporary art dynamics. Sashie’s work has been exhibited throughout Asia and the US including art fairs such as The Armory Show in New York and Art Hong Kong. In 2012, his work was included the Giant Robot Biennale 3 exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California.
When asked about why he keeps referencing corporate giants and their ubiquitous logos in his work, Sashie explained, “The logos and signs of the big brands are like commercial symbols that have seeped so deep into our lives that we feel like these companies make our lives or are an integral part of it. There are good parts and bad parts about this phenomenon of brands taking over our lives and I have tried to express both.”
As for Anima Gallery, Kodzhamanova said that there are several interesting upcoming shows to watch out for in the coming months. “We have a Fall Group Exhibition/ Group exhibition (October – December 2016). Later, the Charbel Samuel Aoun/ Solo show/ (January – March 2017); and Mahmoud Obaidi/ Solo show/ (April – June 2017),” she said.