Fuminao_Suenaga – Maki Fine Arts

2023.3.5 Artist

Fuminao Suenaga – Heiha

March 4 – 19, 2023
Daitabashi Nando / gallery DEN5

2023.2.8

Group Show – Yoshio Shirakawa | Fuminao Suenaga | Keisuke Shirota | Shunsuke Kano | Sean Micka

Fuminao Suenaga
Search Results
2022
Acrylic, pigment on cotton, panel
48.5 x 63.5cm

Maki Fine Arts is pleased to present a group show featuring new and recent works by five artists starting Saturday, June 25, through Sunday, July 24, 2022.

Yoshio Shirakawa
Born 1948 in Fukuoka, Japan, Yoshio Shirakawa graduated from Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1981. Recent shows include To the Enneades (Rin Art Association, 2022), Summer Light (solo, Maki Fine Arts, 2019), Weavers of Worlds -A Century of Flux in Japanese Modern/Contemporary Art–(Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2019), Production Process (solo, Rin Art Association, 2018), Beyond the future of Meld Sculpture (curation, Maki Fine Arts, 2018), Creative Dialogue with Museum 01–MONUMENT (Tottori Prefecture Museum, 2017), Aichi Triennale 2016–A Rainbow Caravan (2016), The Capital Room: Beyond Three Dimensional Logical Pictures–vol. 7 (solo, gallery αM, 2016), and dada, dada, da (solo, Arts Maebashi, 2014).

Fuminao Suenaga
Born 1974 in Yamagata, Japan, Fuminao Suenaga graduated from Tokyo Zokei University in 1999 with a major in painting. Recent shows include Picture Frame (solo, Maki Fine Arts, 2020), Publicness of the Art Center (Art Tower Mito, Contemporary Art Gallery, 2019-2020), Weavers of Worlds–A Century of Flux in Japanese Modern/Contemporary Art– (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2019), MOT Collection: Pleased to meet you. New Acquisitions in recent years (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2019), Search Results (solo, Maki Fine Arts, Tokyo, 2018), railroad siding 2017 (former Tokorozawa city supply center for school meals, Saitama, 2017), APMoA Project ARCH vol. 11 Museum Piece (Aichi Prefecture Museum of Art, 2014), and Born in 1974 (part 1 of a 40th anniversary show, Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, 2014).

Keisuke Shirota
Born 1975 in Kanagawa, Japan, Keisuke Shirota received his MFA from Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Design in 2003. His recent exhibitions include Out of the frame (solo, Maki Fine Arts, 2022), Over (solo, Maki Fine Arts, 2021), PAINT,SEEING PHOTOS (solo, Chigasaki City Museum of Art, 2019-2020), Tracing / Background (solo, Base Gallery, 2013), Shell Artist Selection (The National Art Center, Tokyo, 2013), Photo Reference: Photographic Image in Contemporary Japanese Art Practices (Belgrade Cultural Center, 2012), and his solo show at Galerie Stefan Röpke (2010).

Shunsuke Kano
Born 1983 in Osaka, Japan, Shunsuke Kano completed his graduate studies at Kyoto Saga University of Arts in 2010. Recent shows include Gaps in the Sandwich (solo, The Triangle, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, 2021-2022), Cascades and Barriers (solo, Maki Fine Arts, 2021), Compression Training (solo, Clinic, 2021), Counter Program (solo, Art-Space TARN, 2020), Fountain for the 8th shiseido art egg (Shiseido Gallery, 2021), VOCA 2017 Vision of Contemporary Art (Ueno Royal Museum, 2017), and Photography Will Be (Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, 2014). Kano is also a member of the COPY TRAVELLERS.

Sean Micka
Born 1979 in Boston, Massachusetts, Sean Micka lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Micka was a participant in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program from 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. Recent shows include, Fine Silver and Extraordinary Diamonds from the Estate of an Important Collection (Josée Bienvenu Gallery, 2019), People Who Work Here (CFCP & David Zwirner Gallery, 2019), Edges, Corners, Shadows (Three Star Books, 2018), and Condition Report: Deregulation (Abron Arts Center, 2014).

2023.2.7

Ordinary objects – Alex Dodge / Shoko Masunaga / Ryosuke Ogino / Fuminao Suenaga

Maki Fine Arts is pleased to present Ordinary objects, a group show by Alex Dodge, Shoko Masunaga, Ryosuke Ogino, and Fuminao Suenaga, from November 27 through December 20, 2020. The four artists have chosen everyday ordinary objects as subject matter to showcase their unique approach to examining paintings.

Alex Dodge

Born 1977 in Denver, Colorado, Alex Dodge currently works from Brooklyn, New York, and Tokyo, Japan. His recent shows include Alex Dodge (solo, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, 2020); The Trauma of Information (solo, Maki Fine Arts, 2019); Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965-2018 (Whitney Museum of American Art, 2018-2019); and Whisper in My Ear and Tell Me Softly (solo, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, 2018). His works have been added to collections at The Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Shoko Masunaga

Born 1980 in Osaka, Japan, Shoko Masunaga graduated from Seian Zokei Junior College in 2000 with a major in painting. Her creative process originates from paintings and utilizes a variety of techniques. By focusing on connections to the surrounding environment and space, her works become fluid and interchangeable. Recent activities include the 2018-2019 NARS Foundation International Residency Program in Brooklyn, New York; Box, Box, Box (solo, Cooler Gallery, New York, 2019); CRITERIUM 93 Shoko Masunaga (solo, Gallery 9, Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, 2018); VOCA–The Vision of Contemporary Art 2017 (The Ueno Royal Museum); RURAN TADD PADAN-PADAN (solo, Gallery yolcha, Osaka, 2016); Platform (solo, LOOP HOLE, Tokyo, 2016); When I came home in the evening (milkyeast, Tokyo, 2016); This arrived in the post (IONIO&ETNA, Tokyo, 2015); Abstract Butter at HAGISO (solo, HAGISO, Tokyo, 2015); Where the three tables stand (Art Center Ongoing, 2015); and Medium Conditions (HAGISO, Tokyo, 2014).

Ryosuke Ogino

Born 1970 in Saitama, Japan, Ryosuke Ogino graduated from the School of Political Science and Economy at Meiji University in 1993 and completed the B-semi Learning System program in 1998. Ogino creates paintings using color layers while examining the relationship between color and form. Recent exhibitions include Absorption / Radiation (the 19th hokuto-building, Saitama, 2019); MOT Collection: Pleased to meet you. New Acquisitions in recent years (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2019); Current Location of Paintings (Sapporo Odori 500-m Underground Walkway Gallery, Hokkaido, 2018); (-ness) (solo, Maki Fine Arts, 2018); Hello (solo, See Saw Gallery + Cafe, 2016); kotenten (solo, Switch Point, 2015); Present-Day Paintings: Two-Dimensional Works of Four Artists (Kawagoe City Art Museum, 2015); cannot see clearly (solo, gallery COEXIST-TOKYO, 2014); and New Vision Saitama 4 (The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, 2011).

Fuminao Suenaga

Born 1974 in Yamagata, Japan, Fuminao Suenaga graduated from Tokyo Zokei University in 1999 with a major in painting. His paintings and three-dimensional works are based on visual subject matters inspired by elements relating to exhibition spaces as well as observations made during day-to-day activities. Recent shows include Picture Frame (solo, Maki Fine Arts, 2020); Publicness of the Art Center (Art Tower Mito, Contemporary Art Gallery, 2019-2020); Weavers of Worlds–A Century of Flux in Japanese Modern/Contemporary Art– (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2019); MOT Collection: Pleased to meet you. New Acquisitions in recent years (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2019); Search Results (solo, Maki Fine Arts, Tokyo, 2018); railroad siding 2017 (former Tokorozawa city supply center for school meals, Saitama, 2017); APMoA Project ARCH vol. 11 Museum Piece (Aichi Prefecture Museum of Art, 2014); and Born in 1974 (part 1 of a 40th anniversary show, Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, 2014).

2023.2.25

Fuminao Suenaga “Picture Frame”

Maki Fine Arts is pleased to present Picture Frame, a solo show by Fuminao Suenaga, to celebrate the gallery’s 10th anniversary, starting Saturday, August 29, 2020. The exhibition will showcase new works from Suenaga’s “Picture Frame” series, depicting the frames that surround existing masterpiece paintings. When the series was first shown at Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art in 2014, his works portrayed picture frames from the museum’s own collection. In his much-awaited fourth solo show at Maki Fine Arts, Suenaga has focused on celebrated paintings he has seen in person or has researched online.

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Creating Intimacy: Fuminao Suenaga Picture Frame
Yoko Nose (curator, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art)

Without a trace of contradiction, his works unite cuteness–the type that can be found in the embellishments on a box of sweets–and conceptualism–demonstrated through the minimalistic reliefs used in his works. The slick, two-dimensional surfaces help us glide past any thoughts of reading too much into them. What you see aligned on the walls are paintings that are part of a museum’s collection: museums such as The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The National Museum of Western Art (Tokyo), and Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art.
Although they are depictions of paintings, only the frames are clearly outlined. The paintings themselves are gone, replaced by a single color. Yet they are not completely erased. The “empty” sections evenly fill the entire box-like surface, morphing into something completely different. The original frames selected for inspiration have wood mosaic applications, simple straight lines, or leaf- or geometric-shaped reliefs. When a painting’s surface is void of any color or tone, the original work’s individuality is completely sanitized, including the time period in history, philosophical isms behind the work, as well as the historical events that inspired the creation of the piece. When this happens, the frame–normally relegated to a utilitarian function or, at most, a sidekick that brings out the best of the main character–now becomes equal to or perhaps even outshines the painting itself.
In the past, paintings were literally part of the building, integrated onto the wall. The use of picture frames originated from a need to take the paintings off the wall surface to transport them. The frames showcased in Picture Frame are unimposing, all small enough to be carried anywhere. They resemble furniture, creating intimacy and freedom in the space. The fabricated feel that comes from imitating the original helps curb explicit exaggeration of the painting’s worth. Yet, Picture Frame also solicits a light pondering. What is painting?

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Fuminao Suenaga

Born 1974 in Yamagata, Japan, Fuminao Suenaga graduated from Tokyo Zokei University in 1999 with a major in painting. His paintings and three-dimensional works are based on visual subject matters inspired by elements relating to exhibition spaces and observations made during day-to-day activities. Recent shows include Publicness of the Art Center (Art Tower Mito, Contemporary Art Gallery, 2019-2020), Weavers of Worlds -A Century of Flux in Japanese Modern/Contemporary Art– (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2019), Pleased to meet you. New Acquisitions in recent years (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2019), Search Results (Maki Fine Arts, Tokyo, 2018), railroad siding 2017 (former Tokorozawa city supply center for school meals, Saitama, 2017), The Potential of Intangible Art Vol. 3 Transform / Paint (with Yui Yaegashi, gallery αM, 2016), Maki Fine Arts 5th anniversary group show discreet abstraction (curator, Maki Fine Arts, 2015), APMoA Project ARCH vol. 11 Museum Piece (Aichi Prefecture Museum of Art, 2014), and Born in 1974 (part 1 of a 40th anniversary show, Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, 2014).

2023.3.5 Artist