Photo by Tadayuki Minamoto; Courtesy TAI Modern
Tradition and Innovation: Tanabe Chikuunsai IV and Apprentices
July 26 – August 31, 2024
Opening Reception: Friday, July 26, 5-7pm
Artist Gallery Walkthrough: Saturday, July 27, 2pm
1601 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM
TAI Modern is delighted to present Tradition and Innovation: Tanabe Chikuunsai IV and Apprentices. Led by master artist Tanabe Chikuunsai IV, this exhibition invites the viewer to glimpse the future of Japanese bamboo art. Driven to carry on the tradition of apprenticeship in Japan, Tanabe Chikuunsai IV’s studio currently hosts 10 apprentices, seven of whom have been invited to show at TAI Modern for the first time. They are Tashima Shiun, Nakamura Emika, Honda Yoko, Sano Kayoko, Hayashi Junpei, Ichikawa Yona, and Shimizu Yuki. As bamboo is always a family affair for the Tanabe family, Tradition and Innovation also features the work of Tanabe Mitsuko, Chikuunsai’s mother and bamboo master in her own right.
The Tanabe Chikuunsai lineage is the only surviving lineage of the great lineages in Japanese bamboo art, with a studio just outside of Osaka that is currently training its fifth generation of bamboo artists. From Tanabe Chikuunsai IV’s colossal installations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at TAI Modern in 2019, to recent international exhibitions and an ongoing collaboration with the fine fashion house Loewe, Tanabe has emerged as a leader and representative for a younger generation of bamboo artists.
The exhibition promises to be a debut of the highest caliber, with the artists expressing ideas and feelings about childhood, time, and the visceral sense of being aware of one’s own organs. Tanabe’s Decayed Bamboo series will make its first US appearance. In these works, the bamboo twists and tangles with a feral energy, crowned with an abstracted handle made from a withered section of felled bamboo.
“Each generation of Chikuunsai has enjoyed taking on new challenges while carrying on the tradition. Innovating tradition while carrying on tradition is a contradiction of terms and a very difficult task,” Tanabe states. “However, I believe that friendly competition with the younger generation and the discovery of new concepts will lead bamboo art to a new future.”
TAI Modern will host Tanabe Chikuunsai IV and apprentices Hayashi Junpei, Ichikawa Yona, and Nakamura Emika at the opening reception this Friday evening, with an artists’ walkthrough the next day at their gallery in Sante Fe, NM. They hope you will be able to join them for this celebration of the future of bamboo art.
To learn more, click here.