The Ordinary Spectacle
Duration : 2023.8.18-2023.10.1
Opening : 2023.8.18 4PM
Venue : 3F Clinic Mall，2-2-4Daiba，Minatoku， Tokyo， Japan
Tel : 03-6246-0726
Web : https://shunartdesign.com/
Artist : Austin Stiegemeier
Austin Stiegemeier
Austin was raised in Rathdrum, Idaho and educated in the Pacific Northwest. He holds a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Western Washington University and a MFA from Washington State University.
In the studio, Austin uses large-scale watercolor painting to explore modern representations of the human figure, landscape and still life. His interest lies in creating images addressing social, political, psychological and behavioral aspects of our global community as a whole, and the societal impact of consumerism, exploitation and human desire.
Over the past seven years, Austin has taught studio art courses at six institutions of higher education including courses in painting, drawing, printmaking, design, foundational courses, sculpture and illustration. His achievements have been recognized with both state and national awards and has exhibited his artwork nationally.
Self Help Theory
A solo exhibition planned for 18 August last year was postponed for a year to this year. It is the American artist Austin Stiegemeier’s first solo exhibition in Tokyo.It was also the 17th anniversary of Shun Art Gallery. The Covid-19 that lasted three years is finally over. I went to Wuhan few days ago to deliver artworks.
My friend’s gallery in Wuhan was busy like nothing happened. Nobody wearing mask. In Japan some people still stubbornly wear masks, maybe they are so used to having their faces hidden by masks. I have never worn a mask since Japanese Government announced that people can take off their mask.It’s been unusually hot this summer, and wearing a mask can give you heatstroke.
This year, many people have passed away. Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jean Birkin and Vivian Westwood, as well as Jakucho Setouchi and Issey Miyake. One era has come to an end. With the passing of so many of my favorite creators from so many different genres, I feel like a pillar of this world has been pulled out.
In an unsettled world where AI makes headlines, but if asking ai “What happens after the COVID-19” there is no right answer, is it the self-similar AI we gaze at each other with, or is it the anxiety-ridden vision of the future?
What glimpses through Austen’s work is a startling subjectivity, a remote view of life and death. Desperate as Munch’s work [Scream], using the body as a medium to reveal the inner self – where do we go from here? I haven’t seen director Hayao Miyazaki’s new film, [How Do You Live]Should we be content to remain alive after the COVID-19? The harsh reality continues, but only time is still flowing.While I was accomplishing nothing, other kids were growing at a rapid pace and their parents were proud of them. I haven’t grown up yet, and I don’t know what I’ve done with my life.
New York, as seen in the Woody Allen film, is the next new place delayed by the epidemic. Someone hurt someone else to put me first, and now I’m being hurt again to put someone else first, and in a way it’s unjust, but maybe it’s also karma. You can’t ask someone to love you, and when all is said and done, once the heart leaves, it doesn’t come back. Like the lyrics say, “It’s just been too long and too good to be true.” There’s a Chinese saying, “Never leave, never forsake.” It means never leave, never forsake.
In his paintings, such stories and lives can be seen. After the completion of life comes death, and it all goes with the flow.
When I started my gallery in Shanghai in 2006, there were very few contemporary art galleries: only a dozen or so, and they weren’t even renovated. It’s hard to imagine the art scene in Shanghai today, with art museums sprouting up, international exhibitions being held regularly, and many major international galleries opening branches in Shanghai.
Austin’s work is currently not very well known in Tokyo. With the opening of this solo exhibition, the artist has finally flown in from overseas to be on site instead of at zoom, and I’m really looking forward to seeing his work in person.
Shun–Atelier Shanghai
