Condo Yukio "Art for all" / "Art for All". Japanese Nihong painting, drawing, lithography

January 20 at 17.00 in the Museum and Exhibition Complex of the Russian Academy of Arts Zurab Tsereteli Gallery of Art (Moscow, Prechistenka, 19), the grand opening of the exhibition of works by Kondo Yukio (Japan) "ART FOR ALL" / "Art for All."

Kondo Yukio was born in 1953 in the city of Niigata (Japan). He graduated from the Art University of Tama, where he received specialized in Nihong technique in 1977. In 1979, he graduated from the graduate school of the University of the Arts of Tama, and in 1980 trained at one of New York universities. Member of numerous solo and group exhibitions. Since 2012, she has been actively teaching. The artist was awarded the title of Honorary Doctor of General Philosophy of the Russian International University of Fundamental Education, the Oxford Educational System (Great Britain) and the University of California (USA).

The international project “ART FOR ALL” / “Art for All” started in Russia at an exhibition in Mytishchi, then it was shown in St. Petersburg, now it is exhibited in Moscow, then it will go to Novosibirsk and will end in Vladivostok. The traveling exhibition was conceived by the artist as an opportunity to give everyone in the world, regardless of their place of residence, social traditions, material well-being, physical and other characteristics, overcoming borders, understanding art and touching it.

Kondo Yukio worked for a long time on a voluntary basis in a committee that oversaw problem children, so visitors to his exhibitions often become wards of orphanages, people with mental illness or with disabilities. The master is convinced that art has the power to overcome alienation and change something, that art can inspire hope in a difficult situation, and tries to make its art accessible to all people. As part of the exhibition in Moscow, the artist planned to conduct master classes for children with visual impairments.

“At times, under the influence of works of art, a person has a passion for life. Like clean water and air, art should be present next to everyone. I plan to implement a project called “ART FOR ALL” / “Art for All” in order to provide medical care to those who are not available, to give people in different circumstances a chance to get in touch with art, ”says Kondo dignity

With the works of Kondo Yukio can be touched in the literal sense, since some of the works presented on display are tactile. Yukio Kondo works in the traditional Nihong technique - Japanese painting, which has not changed since the VIII century. The process of creating each picture is painstaking and long. For each work, the master uses special textured materials - special paper and pigments based on natural materials. Japanese paper - yours - is made by hand from interwoven long plant fibers. Willow enogu (mineral paints) are obtained from powdered stones, such as ultramarine, lapis lazuli and others. Black ink, gold leaf and silver, the finest platinum and aluminum foil are also used to create paintings. Depending on the degree of grinding, 16 shades of color are obtained from one mineral. The particle size creates not only a special shade, but also affects the roughness, refraction of light, chemical reactions of the components.

Currently, Kondo-san is actively working on the topic “Respect for nature”, therefore, images of nature and wild animals predominate in his work. According to the artist, he spent many hours in the open airs in order to feel the fusion with nature and convey this state in his works. The elaboration of such details as animal hair or tree bark is subtle and calligraphic, sophistication and grace. This is seen as a special aesthetics inherent in the culture of the East. But not only the idyllic image of nature attracts the master.

Another important topic in the artist’s work is “Lost Human Dignity”. With creative expeditions, he traveled around the Middle and Middle East, Southeast Asia and India, and observing the consequences of wars, devastation, conflicts, hunger also influenced his work. But even in this, Yukio Kondo occupies not the external side, but the trials of the soul: the problems of preserving human dignity in inhuman conditions.

The central part of the exposition is occupied by the monumental graphic work “Tsunami” (or “Search for Truth”), dedicated to the tragic events occurring during a natural disaster, which the artist witnessed in childhood, and which left an indelible mark on his memory. Kondo Yukio began work on this work in 1981, but the master continues to constantly return to it. To date, the length of the work is more than 13 meters.

The artist himself says so about the main picture of the project: “It has no end. As long as I live, I will write it. It brings together a variety of aesthetic concepts inherent in Japanese Nihong painting. You can touch, hear, smell it. The “search for truth” makes the five senses work. In this work there are many things that are accessible not only to the eye, but can also be felt by other senses. I plan to continue it, which means there is still faith and hope for a brighter future. "

The exposition presents more than 60 works of traditional Japanese Nihong painting, drawings and lithography.