[Title] White Discharge
[Artist] Teppei Kaneuji
[Date] 2010.07.22-09.14


Applying white plaster to common everyday items, the fragments of city life picked up, purchased or otherwise assembled. The result is the enclosure of time, essence and other elements, transporting the treated objects into a totally different and distant domain. Interacting with these pieces of city existence are Hermès creations. Adrift, yet standing out vividly against the snow-white world backdrop. In a sense, the products exist as representatives of the real world, while they likewise materialize images steeped in the element of fantasy.

Common everyday wares, each instilled with exclusive meaning and use. Brought into this world by a multitude of human creators, projecting totally different stories and properties. Reborn without alteration in shape or form, resurfaced, as such, into a single collective presence exuding properties rooted in a separate visual dimension. Refusing to deny individual nature, although chosen exclusively from the perspective of size and contour in the course of transformation. In this way, the everyday goods assume the mantle of other entities, linked wholly through the sharing of identical whitewashed façades. This distinctly envisions the vagueness inherent in the meaning of “solid matter,” while underscoring the blurred borders where multitudes of entities coexist in harmony.

Therein stand Hermès creations. Ostensibly immune to the frailty of the flow and phenomenon expressed by the plaster, as it trickles down to fully sheath the everyday objects. The contrast between the plaster covered aggregate, and the Hermès products placed within, is tantamount to the appearance of colorful creatures in silvery-mantled woods, or the rush of new life in a dark and crumbling city scene. At the same time, this can also be seen as a metaphor of the enduring devotion of Hermès craftsmanship, persistently resisting change within the constant flow of time. In this case, portrayed by the white plaster landscape.


Teppei Kaneuji
Born in Kyoto, Japan in 1978. Kaneuji studied at the Royal College of Art in London from 2001, going on to complete program coursework at the Graduate School in Art at Kyoto City University of Arts in 2003. From his boyhood days, he found himself absorbed with clay modeling, the art of fashioning stuffed toys and other creative pursuits. Today his works span genres ranging from sculpture, drawing, installation and more, and are displayed widely in exhibitions held in galleries, art museums and other venues in Japan and abroad.

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【第三回】　市井の山居と不東庵

銀座の喧騒の真ん中に、隠者の居を移した「市井の山居」も会期終了まで3週間を切りました。季節も、梅雨から真夏に近づき、草庵の趣もそれに応えるように変化しています。

今回は、銀座の「亜美庵杜」の様子のレポートに加え、細川護熙の山居、湯河原の「不東庵」の様子をご紹介します。

　　　　

四方仏に飾られているのは食虫植物のサラセニア。遠い海を隔てた北米で生息している植物ですが、ユニークな形が唯一無二の茶室の雰囲気にぴったりです。




一輪差しから、何やら植物で出来た輪が下がっています。これは茅の輪というもので、文字どおり、茅の葉で作られた輪です。これは、1年のちょうど半分が過ぎた6月30日に飾り、その輪のなかを通って半年の厄をはらい、残りの半年の無病息災を願うというもの。夏越（なこし）の祓いと呼ばれる習慣です。この季節に神社に行くと、人ひとりがくぐり抜けられるような、大きな茅の輪を見ることができます。




毎週金曜日の午後には茶室「亜美庵杜」を使ったお茶会のデモンストレーションが開かれています。亭主がひとり茶室に入り、客人は縁側に座って目の前に広がる草庵の景色を見ながらお茶を飲むというスタイル。茶室の空間に人が入って初めて場が完成します。

このように、銀座の山居では、自然の移り変わりが随所に息づいています。このような時間の流れは主人、細川の本当の山居「不東庵」でも変わりません。苔のうえに一見無造作なかたちでたたずむ陶仏をはじめ、童子像や壺は、いつもは「不東庵」のどこかに置かれているものなのです。

細川護熙は60歳で政界を引退して以来、神奈川県湯河原町にある自宅兼工房、「不東庵」で制作活動を続けています。庵号となった「不東」という言葉は、昔、中国は唐の時代、三蔵法師が天竺に修行に出発するにあたって、仏法を極めることが出来なかったら、再び東方の母国の土を踏まないという彼の固い決意を表したもの。それ以来、決して揺らぐことのない強い覚悟をもって、何事にも打ち込むことを表す言葉として使われ、隠居生活という一見穏やかな暮らしの背後に潜む、細川の芸術への想いの強さを伺うことができます。

湯河原は神奈川県と静岡県の境目にある昔ながらの温泉街です。町の歴史に寄り添うように、「不東庵」の庭は、滾々と湧き出る温泉の蒸気でうっすらと曇っています。もともとは細川の祖母の持ち物だったという日本家屋の母屋の裏手には、その趣をよりいっそう引き立てるような藤森照信設計の工房と茶室があります。湯気の立つ温泉の源泉をぐるりと取り囲むように立てられた藤森建築は、ここ数年の間に建てられたにも関わらず、杉皮、銅版などの素材が奥湯河原の自然に心地よく同化して、細川の何物にも囚われない自由な制作活動の刺激になっているのでしょう。陶芸の工房の裏手には、ここ数年、頻繁に使っている絵画のアトリエがあります。ちょうど、薄暗い雑木林の影にひっそりとたたずむ小さなアトリエには、土の匂いと轆轤の音とはまた別の精神的な世界が存在します。

細川は、新聞記者、知事、そして政治家生活のさなかにあっても、ひと時も読書から離れることはなかったといいます。母屋にある書斎には名士による書がところ狭しと並び、夜、床に入るときも、布団に数冊の書を持ち込んではページを捲ることが習慣となっているとか。読書で得た言葉はやがて血肉となり、軸や書画、そしてさまざまな造形作品にまで昇華されていきます。

晴れれば土を耕し、雨が降っては書に親しむ。細川は生涯、晴耕雨読の生活を目標としてきました。「市井の山居」の終了後も、湯河原の「不東庵」では、日々移り変わる季節とそれに寄り添いながら、齢を重ねる一人の人間との静かな対話が行われていくでしょう。

to be updated

to be updated

次回上映作品の予約を受付を開始いたしました！
鑑賞ご希望の方は下記電話番号にお問合せ下さい。
お問い合わせ：TEL　03-3569-3300　（受付時間　11:00～19:00）
FAX　03-3569-3612　


次回上映作品 「ロワイヤル・ド・リュクス」↓
http://www.art-it.asia/u/maisonhermes/C4bR6tOQpovsVdqAGxzK/

予約に関するお願い↓
http://www.art-it.asia/u/maisonhermes/K7b842gYnPWihrvVfoU1/

[Title] Little Red Riding Hood “Carré”
[Artist] Nicolas Buffe
[Date] 2010.05.20-07.20


For the Hermès’ annual theme, “Tales to be Told,” the French artist Nicolas Buffe has selected the beloved fairytale Little Red Riding Hood as his subject matter. The result is a unique rendition of this fable, which all children certainly recognize at a glance, in the dimension of the Hermès window display.

“When considering the theme to apply to these windows,” recalls Buffe, “I hit upon the world of Little Red Riding Hood – a tale that is both innocent and spellbinding – as the ideal medium. The story line provides an immaculate mix of naivety, fright and humor, and is known by people of all ages and walks of life. I was further thrilled by the idea of merging Hermès artistic objects into the enchanted world of the author Charles Perrault – for example, using the Hermès “Carré” scarf to help garb Little Red Riding Hood herself.”

This assimilation of grotesque decorations, placing pop elements at every turn, a style widely seen in Buffe’s works, develops in a complete black and white world, accentuating radiant creations of the Hermès product line.

In the left-side window, Little Red Riding Hood is portrayed as a kitten. True to the original saga, she wanders through the woods searching for her grandmother’s house. Creatures from the forest surround her, and move about carrying a teapot, dishes and various other utensils for use in the tea party to come.

The window on the right depicts Grandmother’s House. The Big Bad Wolf awaits Little Red Riding Hood in the bed disguised as her grand mother. Not so cleverly, however, the Wolf’s true identity slips in and out of sight when viewed from the far side of the bed. The wagon wheel like structure placed around the true form of this unwelcome visitor is a symbol of the “wheel of fortune.” Foreshadowing, in no uncertain terms, the finale of this tale when a good hunter appears to save Little Red Riding Hood and her granny and severely punish the Big Bad Wolf for his evil ways.

In the 16 small windows, various scenes from the Grimm’s Fairytales edition of Little Red Riding Hood are played out. They include the team of Little Red Riding Hood, her grandmother and the hunter giving the wolf a good thrashing and other enjoyable images.


Nicolas Buffe
Born in Paris in 1978. Graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Paris in 2005, goes on to learn the Japanese language at the Institut National des Languages Civilisations Orientales. Later travels to Japan to pursue further research, studying at the Tokyo National University of Arts and Music. He has held exhibitions at the La Maison Rouge in Paris, the Tokyo Museum of Comtemporary Art and other premiere venues around the world. Nicolas Buffe currently works out of Japan as the base for his artistic exploits.

「Royal de Luxe」

[Program title] Conte et Raconte　Ⅲ
[Film title]Royal de Luxe　
①Le Mythe du Géant （Screening time：1hour 33min）
2006／France／Colour／93 min／French
②La visite du Sultan des Indes sur son éléphant à voyager dans le temps　(Screening time : 52 min)
2007／France／Colour／52 min／French

[Date] ①June 12-July 3, 2010　②July 10 –July 31,2010　
Screening every Saturdays　（Reservation only／Admission Free）

For Reservations, please call　03-3569-3300　（Open hour:11:00～19:00）

(FAX　03-3569-3612)


About programme
As the third program in the Conte et Raconte, we will show two documentary films on performances featuring giant puppets whose stage is the city itself.
Director Jean-Luc Courcoult came upon the idea one day: Is it possible to tell a story to an entire city? Could we create a situation where people in town suddenly encounter a fairy tale world, becoming directly incorporated into a story? Since the 1990s, the French street theater company Royal de Luxe has performed around the world, using giant puppets and transforming the cities themselves into stages. The overwhelming scale of their performances has surprised people, tiny as peas in comparison, leaving vivid traces in people's hearts with the puppets' gestures and expressions full of emotion. These traces will forever live on in the minds of those who experienced the performance, and they will retell the stories that the giants served to them in their own words, even after the banquet is over. The documentaries in the present program follow this unique street theater company that has performed for over ten years, and show how the stories expand in people's imagination and continue to grow infinitely through words.

“Shisei no Sankyo” by Morihiro Hosokawa Press Conference Interview
April 21,2010 - Maison Hermès 8th Floor “Le Forum”

Prior to the opening of “Shisei no Sankyo (Hermitage in the City)” Exhibition by Morihiro Hosokawa, a press conference was held. In the interview, artist Morihiro Hosokawa and architect Terunobu Fujimori, designer of the tea house ‘A bientôt,’ talked about how this exhibition took form. Later, Mr. Hosokawa showed us around the venue explaining on each of his works and the idea he had of this exhibition.

Hosokawa: Since I retired from politics about 10 years ago, I live a simple life of seikô udoku (farm when it's sunny, read when it rains) in Yugawara-machi, Kanagawa. The atelier, teahouse and kiln that I have there were designed by Fujimori-sensei.

I spend my days making pottery, writing poems and reading books. And I also picked up oil painting from about a year ago. This was because pottery often gets cracked or chipped while being fired in the kiln. They are repaired by a traditional method called kanatsugi using lacquer and at times the piece is reborn into a masterpiece. Of course, there is a specialist who does the repairing, but the cost is very expensive. That’s why I started to do it myself by learning how to handle Japanese lacquer.

Then I started to find the process very interesting. Lacquer comes in the form of a tube, just like oil paint tubes, and I thought of painting a picture on paper with lacquer. The next thing I did was to paint on canvas like oil painting, and I quite liked it. This way my interest developed into painting pictures. When you put your work of pottery or calligraphy in a box, you have to make an inscription which we call hakogaki (autograph or note of authentication written on a box containing an art work). We also apply lacquer when we make a chashaku (tea scoop) for tea ceremony. All of these familiar procedures led me to opening a new door to oil painting.

I’m truly grateful to the opportunity of having an exhibition here. However, when I visited this gallery, I was told that the exhibitions in the past decade were mostly of modern art. My honest expression was, “Wow, this is a challenging space!” I felt I wasn’t capable enough to hold the exhibition all by myself, so I asked Fujimori-sensei for help.

In Yugawara, I live a secluded life of seikô udoku like a hermit. In the world of tea ceremony, we call this way of life sekibaku sôan (quiet, lonesome hermitage), which relates to the world of Buddha. For the exhibition I selected oil paintings that have special connection with Buddhism.
Some pieces may seem unrelated, but I will come back why I included them in the collection later on.


Fujimori: The first structure that I designed at Futô-an in Yugawara was an atelier. Then it was a tea house, but Mr. Hosokawa always makes a request on short notice. He asked me if I could make the tea house “Ichiyatei” within a month! It’s true that Sen no Rikyu built a tea house in a week for Hideyoshi Toyotomi who was heading for the battlefield. Hideyoshi was greatly pleased by Rikyu’s invitation to the tea house on his way to battle.

Mr. Hosokawa told me that then President Jacques Chirac of France was visiting him and that he wanted to welcome him in the tea house. I think it was the first time since Rikyu that a tea house was built in a haste to entertain a guest. I managed to complete it somehow. A conventional method would take too long so I asked the Haiyuza, a theatrical company, experienced in making stage settings, to do the job. You might not believe it, but the structure is made of aluminium. When I asked them if aluminium was more expensive, they replied that aluminium is better than wood considering the cheaper labor cost for transporting.” The tea house looks old but it’s made of aluminium.

This time I got another sudden phone call from Mr. Hosokawa. He said, “Can you make a tea house at Maison Hermès?” I thought it wasn’t a place for a tea house. I’ve held exhibitions at Maison Hermès before and I know that it’s a rectangular space, which is good for modern art but not so for other artwork. Nevertheless, I decided to take the offer because I knew from my experience that people at Hermès were very cooperative. Though it’s a simple tea house made within a short period of time, I’m quite satisfied with the outcome. If I were given another opportunity, I would like to make structures like this by using a similar method.


Approach to Shisei no Sankyo: sotoroji (outer garden)

Hosokawa: I divided the venue into three areas. The world of quiet lonesome hermitage is expressed in the tea house designed by Fujimori-sensei identifying with the simple life that I lead in Yugawara. The vaulted ceiling reaching the eighth and ninth floors, the central area that looks like a pathway and the area extending beyond the vaulted ceiling ― I have related the front open area to “sotoroji” in the world of tea ceremony, the pathway to “uchiroji (inner garden)” and the back area to “sôan (hermitage).”

As you step into the large area, the glass plate resembles a stream, a brook or a path leading to the hermitage. The tea bowls displayed represent the petals or Buddha’s lotus flower. I have decided that the row of pillars here represent a bamboo grove. The painting of a lotus flower hung in the back is done in oil and acrylic paint. As you know, the lotus represents Bodhi (enlightenment), so I thought it was perfect for this area. You don’t see many paintings of the lotus flower in oil, do you? And in the far corner, you see a child sitting chin in hand, as if the child is peering at something.

Turning back to the large wall that stretches up to the ceiling, you see a painting of the Kumamoto Castle standing over the stone wall. This is the only painting that seems unrelated to the world of Buddha, but when I walked into this section and looked at the glazed wall, the image of the stone wall of the Kumamoto Castle suddenly came into my head. So I made a bold decision to make a painting of the stone wall and hang it there. Since the painting was too large to work on in my small atelier, I brought it to my office and let it lean against the wall. I had to lie down on the floor to do the lower part. It didn’t take me long to finish it, though. The floor underneath the painting is covered with moss and deformed jar is displayed tilted.


Area leading to the sôan hermitage: uchiroji inner garden

As you move on from sotoroji area to uchiroji, the first thing you will find is a plate that I made for this exhibition using Shigaraki clay, displayed on the table. The plate has a carriage, one of Hermès motifs, initial “H” and some other patterns painted both on the front and back sides. And the motif of this painting is a weeping cherry tree that grows in my garden in Yugawara.

After passing the uchiroji adorned with cherry blossoms, we proceed further to the inner section where you see a Shigaraki earthenware jar on the right side. The flower I arranged in the jar is called yamabuki (Japanese rose) which my friend picked from his garden this morning. The scroll hanging on the wall is calligraphy of Chinese characters phonetically describing the phrase “que será, será.” I know this is not French, but the phrase flashed into my imagination when I was thinking what kind of calligraphy I could create for Hermès. Hengaku (a horizontal frame) that you find in the tea house is a work of calligraphy written “A bientôt” in Chinese characters. It was also created from the same reason.

The painting here in the hallway depicts the tower of Yakushiji Temple at sunset, one of my early paintings. I wanted to describe the serene atmosphere using only oil paint. The one right next to it is a profile of the seated Bosatsu at Chûgûji Temple. It’s my favorite and the most recent painting that I made just four weeks ago.


Quiet sôan and Tea House

Lastly, you will reach the inner sôan section where the tea house designed by Fujimori-sensei is installed. Inside you will see a small hengaku frame with the name of the tea house “A bientôt” inscribed in calligraphy. I have displayed a furosaki-byôbu screen (a two-panel, free-standing screen) in the tea room with a Chinese poem, and on the wall behind the screen, there is a scroll of patched paper with the characters “shiki soku zekû (Form is the emptiness. Emptiness is the form.) In the moss garden here, you can see a Buddhist figure, a five-storied pagoda and a devil roof tile, all of Shigaraki earthenware. On the front wall here, I have hung frames which relate to the world of Buddha; the guardian god of Hôryûji Temple, and the hands of Kudara Kannon goddess, magnolias, and the profile of the eleven-faced Kannon goddess of Kôgenji Temple. The painting on the very left is the main gate of Kôyasan. Turn around, and you will see a picture of Daruma painted in oil and sumi (ink). Daruma’s beard is drawn in ink. I’m sure nobody would use sumi and oil in one painting, but I wanted to use sumi to express the thin lines of the beard, which would be thicker in oil painting. In fact, I find the outcome very interesting.

Fujimori: As Mr. Hosokawa pointed out, this area has an especially high ceiling. I realized the true meaning of his idea when he explained that he had interpreted this area to a landscape. Probably, he had given me the same explanation in the very beginning, but I had forgotten about it. Being here myself, I fully agree that the height could be used in a landscape. And now I know that the moss I used was a perfect element. First I was at a loss how to express the atmosphere of “Shisei no sankyo (Hermitage in the City).” I once remembered making a tower of moss before and its versatility. So I decided to use it again for the exhibition. It turned out better than I had expected. With the moss, the tea house looks as if it had been there for a long time. (He squats.) See here. Clovers sprouted from seeds which had accidentally fallen on the moss. Plants like this makes the moss look natural and old. The two seeds couldn’t have been planted by somebody, they must have grown naturally. This kind of wild plant is more effective in producing the atmosphere of a hermitage than arranged flowers or bonsai. It helps create the natural world in a room. I learned for the first time that moss has the power of relating the mountains and fields. I had a wonderful experience through the exhibition.

The board used for the tea house is made of excellent laminated lumber manufactured exclusively in Japan. We all know that laminated lumber originated in Europe and the U.S., not in Japan. It has outstanding performance but doesn’t look like wood anymore. A typical type of laminated lumber made in the U.S. is produced by cutting the wood into fine chips and then molding it into a board using glue. Another common method used in Japan is the katsuramuki technique. Plywood or laminated lumber loses the appearance of wood in the process. However, there is a product called J-panel produced only in Japan. “J” in J-panel stands for Japan. The unpatented technique was developed and spread by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in the past. J-panels are easy to handle, free of distortion, and yet maintains the quality sensation of wood. I am the first to use J-panels in an exhibit because they are usually used in parts like groundwork where people do not notice.

When we look at the whole setting, we can see that the Buddha figures are placed in a landscape. We seldom see paintings hung at random on the wall, but I’m impressed to see that they blend so well in the landscape.

The boards in the back of the tea house are yakisugi (charred cedar) made by burning the surface of J-panels. We see this only in western Japan, because in eastern Japan they paint the boards with sumi to give the same effect. Yakisugi is one of the traditional Japanese techniques not found elsewhere in the world. I was worried if the charred board would not match with the atmosphere but I am actually surprised to see that it did. Regarding the pillar here, Mr. Hosokawa told me that it would resemble a bamboo. I thought it was a bit difficult to imagine a bamboo from a pillar with a quality sensation of iron. So I wrapped it with a rope and applied plaster over it. I think I did a good job.

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