STEPHEN SACCO
Special to the Leader
Ei Arakawa, a Japanese visual artist, will be touching down in SUNY Fredonia this Thursday, Sept. 13.
He will be hosting a hands-on workshop with students creating improvisational visual art.
Arakawa’s work has been featured in the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Biennial and many more notorious galleries.
In the workshop, he will demonstrate his piece “Mid-Yuming as Reconstruction Mood” which entails fast-speed building while playing the famous Japanese pop-singer Yuming then de-building. This specific performance piece was inspired by Mark Fisher, a stage set designer who worked for the Super Bowl.
Arakawa was inspired by the halftime show taking four minutes for a group of 400 or more people to build a stage before the commercial break ended and another four minutes to deconstruct the stage after the halftime show.
This experience of performance visual art is triggered by not only Arakawa’s own passion for art but by the collaboration in which everyone is constructing and improvising together through the piece.
Arakawa said, “My creativity is fueled by the possibility and expansion of network of people. It is satisfying to know someone deeper through working together not only one time, but continuously.”
Arakawa leaves students with a selfless perspective when it comes to the process of art. He orchestrates performing in a collective where everyone begins to learn more and more about one another, resulting in a unique experience of art for both the participants and audience.
Arakawa welcomes students to bring their creative ideas and works of visual art to the workshop.
He is the first guest to visit Fredonia for the Visiting Artist Program this semester.
Barbara Räcker is the instructor or this program, which is also a required class for Visual Arts and New Media Students to take (ART-120). Räcker has been a director and curator of art museums and galleries in Colorado, Indiana, Montana, New York, Washington and West Virginia. She has organized over 150 major exhibits total throughout her career thus far.
When thinking about the way people look at art today, Räcker said, “It’s hard in this day and age to understand the importance of a static image, because everything is moving around us all the time and the internet, and smartphones, people just don’t relate to a still image. I mean there are lines out the door at the MOMA and MET, but smaller museums don’t get that kind of attention.”
In order to compensate for the attention span deficit, artists like Arakawa reassure the 21st century audience with more stimulus than the still painting or image provides.
The Visiting Artist Program has a committee which helps determine who and what artist comes to SUNY Fredonia. Riko Chandra is a part of this committee as a community member. Chandra owns Reverie Creamery in Mayville, N.Y. and produces an array of avant-garde photography besides operating his artisan cheese shop.
Chandra influenced the committee to bring Ei Arakawa to SUNY Fredonia. He recalled seeing Arakawa’s work at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Chandra said, “What [distinguishes] him from other artists is that the way he utilizes everyday objects, works of art including his sculpture, and people/audience as his actors. All the elements equally play important roles in his performative arts. His painting and sculpture are embedded with performative potential. Standing, walking, speaking, dancing or singing together becomes an act of collective creativity. What fascinates me the most is how the idea of individual/single audience is effectively replaced by a communal performative engagement. He utilizes his audience not only as subject or element of his art but also as participatory element to achieve his intention. Arakawa also emphasizes on DIY aesthetic rather than precious or perfection of mechanized materials.”
Be sure to utilize the intangible presence of these great artists who visit SUNY Fredonia throughout the year.
This event will be held at 8:30 p.m. in McEwen Hall, 209.
Free admission is open to all students and faculty.