Overview
The process of making something always involves a human act. Then, what I want to know is whether an intention or an idea that you have before you undertake an action is attached to the resulting thing. Do ideas always adhere to things? When we look at it from the end result, it must transcend your method—that is, it must deviate from your intention or idea, to clarify the essential state of mono as they exist. Am I wrong? – Kishio Suga

 

Kishio Suga is one of Japan’s most celebrated artists, whose diverse and influential practice spans site-specific installation, assemblage, and performance. His career began in 1968 when he started making temporary installations out of natural and industrial materials such as wood, metal, wire, and concrete. By introducing an incongruous yet defined structure of raw material into the gallery space, he sought to reveal the reality of mono (things/materials) and the jōkyō (situation) that holds them together. Suga was identified as a critical theorist within a loose group of like-minded artists that later came to be known as Mono-ha (School of Things). Though short-lived, this movement was a significant turning point in postwar Japanese art history, echoing the concurrent development of Land Art, Arte Povera, and Supports/Surfaces in the United States and Europe, yet rooted in a specifically Japanese intellectual and cultural context.
 
Kishio Suga (1944, Morioka, Japan) lives and works in Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture.
 
His work is featured in many institutional collections, including the Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Dia Art Foundation, New York; Glenstone Foundation, Potomac, MD; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi; Long Museum, Shanghai; M+, Hong Kong; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan; National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Pinault Collection, Venice; Rachofsky Collection, Dallas; Tate Modern, London; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo; and the Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan.
 
His recent solo exhibitions have been at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2016); Dia: Chelsea, New York (2016); and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2015). He is frequently included in global survey exhibitions. A re-creation of his groundbreaking outdoor installation Law of Situation (1971) was featured in the Gaggiandre shipyard at the 57th Venice Biennale until November 26, 2017, and his work was included in Japanorama. A New vision on art since 1970 at the Centre Pompidou Metz (2018).
 
Recent group shows include: The Emergence of the Contemporary: Avant-Garde Art in Japan 1950–1970, Imperial Palace, Rio de Janeiro (2016); Karla Black and Kishio Suga: A New OrderScottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2016); Prima Materia, Punta della Dogana, Venice (2013); Parallel Views: Italian and Japanese Art from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, The Warehouse, Dallas (2013); and Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2012).
Selected Artworks
  • Kishio Suga, Progression Toward Extremity, 2015
    Progression Toward Extremity, 2015
  • Kishio Suga, Cyclical Progression, 2013
    Cyclical Progression, 2013
  • Kishio Suga, Site of Components, 2013
    Site of Components, 2013
  • Kishio Suga, Elapsing Scene, 2011
    Elapsing Scene, 2011
  • Kishio Suga, Latent Condition, 2011
    Latent Condition, 2011
  • Kishio Suga, Edges of Connectivity, 2010
    Edges of Connectivity, 2010
  • Kishio Suga, Accumulation on Fragmented Topography, 2009
    Accumulation on Fragmented Topography, 2009
  • Kishio Suga, Continuous Earth Under Rain, 2009
    Continuous Earth Under Rain, 2009
  • Kishio Suga, Elapsing Distances, Connected Points, 2009
    Elapsing Distances, Connected Points, 2009
  • Kishio Suga, Flowing Against Topographic Lines, 2009
    Flowing Against Topographic Lines, 2009
  • Kishio Suga, Interstices, 2009
    Interstices, 2009
  • Kishio Suga, Differentiation, 2008
    Differentiation, 2008
  • Kishio Suga, Gathered Elements in Union, 2007
    Gathered Elements in Union, 2007
  • Kishio Suga, Level Depth, 2005
    Level Depth, 2005
  • Kishio Suga, Scenic Zones – Duplication and Direction, 1996
    Scenic Zones – Duplication and Direction, 1996
  • Kishio Suga, Progression of Spatial Alignment, 1979
    Progression of Spatial Alignment, 1979
  • Kishio Suga, Untitled, 1978
    Untitled, 1978
  • Kishio Suga, Quantity of Territory, 1976
    Quantity of Territory, 1976
Exhibitions
Publications
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