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until 06.08. | #2760ARTatBerlin | Migrant Bird Space presents from 19th June 2020 the solo show archegraph study_Berlin with works by the artist Yuya Suzuki.
In search of a new visual language, Japanese artist Yuya Suzuki responds to the environment around him: minimalist amorphous shapes, semi-symmetric patterns and bright, blazing colours function like fragments or syllables of an unintelligible code. When viewed as series or as room-filling installation, Suzuki’s works unfold into a linguistic landscape that feels strangely familiar, yet cleverly escapes definitive meaning. Each image is created from a part of an actual city-scape, but the level of abstraction varies: from motifs that closely resemble the original to heavily abstracted patterns. His “archegraph studies” — a term he coined in 2016— are visual texts that could also be described as an abstract syntax or musical pattern. Suzuki’s notes proliferate endlessly, defying a harmonious melody.
Yuya Suzuki: archegraph study_Berlin, 2020 | Migrant Bird Space
Yuya Suzuki: archegraph study_Berlin, 2020 | Migrant Bird Space
Suzuki creates drawings, paintings and sculptures that are linked to our unconscious perception of contemporary urban life. He is a flaneur. Travelling the world, Suzuki wanders through cities he visits and collects impressions of mundane objects and elements that easily escape our attention. He uses these neglected objects to create his own visual vocabulary. Even though his work is based on his subjective perception, he aims to create a language that is universal at the same time. City dwellers all over the world will be able to recognise certain elements: may these be associations to skyscrapers, bridges, windows and trees or smaller banal objects like a stack of boxes, plastic curtains or trafc lights — for each viewer there will be diferent motifs to identify and connect to. Suzuki’s post-minimal abstractions — he regards Sol Lewitt as an inspiring influence — provide just enough imaginative space to remain accessible to any audience. The term “arche” in his title “archegraph study” refers to the Greek word for “origin”, whereas the word “graph” translates as “symbol” or “image”. Suzuki’s “original images” therefore depict a minimal archetypal language, shared by humans worldwide. By abstracting elements that are familiar across cultures, he taps into the collective unconscious of urban life.
Yuya Suzuki: archegraph study_Berlin, 2020 | Migrant Bird Space
Yuya Suzuki: archegraph study_Berlin, 2020 | Migrant Bird Space
While in the streets, Suzuki collects his impressions by taking photographs. Back in his studio, he pencils an outline of each visual fragment and transforms it into a finely drawn abstracted symbol. He then uses colour-pencils or acrylic gouache for colour. Some of his motifs are outright flat, simple and two-dimensional, whereas others are more detailed and contain a three-dimensional perspective. His working process is swift and spontaneous. “When choosing the colours for my drawings, I try not to think too much. It is a very intuitive, quick approach.” He uses a heavy paper that in itself has an almost haptic structure and absorbs the paint, leaving a dense, velvety finish. His precise colour-pencil drawings are just as buoyant and intense. While there are recurring elements in each of his “archegraph studies” — as of now, there are individual series for Tainan, Nagoya, Sapporo, Beijing and Berlin — every study is clearly diferent, assembling diferent colour-schemes and abstract urban shapes. Each series captures a city in a unique way, yet also tells a common story of urban spaces everywhere. As Suzuki travels across the world, he takes the viewer to seemingly familiar places, all the while projecting a futuristic vision of indefinite possibilities.
Dr. Eva Morawietz
Director Migrant Bird Space, Berlin
Yuya Suzuki: archegraph study_Berlin, 2020 | Migrant Bird Space
Ausstellungsplakat Yuya Suzuki
Yuya Suzuki
1983 born in Fukushima, Japan
lives and works in Sapporo. Current artist-in-residence at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
Solo Exhibitions
2019
Phantoms Agora, Siao-Long Children’s Museum of Arts, Tainan / Taiwan
New Excavation, MUMU Gallery, Tainan / Taiwan
Futuristic Allegory, Migrant Bird Space, Beijing / China
2018
City under the water, Center for Contemporary Art (PCCA), Jinxi / China
archegraph study_Tainan, Absolute space for the Arts, Tainan / Taiwan
2017
Remaking Ghosts, Soulangh cultural park, Tainan / Taiwan
archegraph study_Seoul, salon cojica, Sapporo / Japan
2016
Walk and cultivation, CAI02, salon cojica, Sapporo / Japan
2013
Out of the music, CAI02, Sapporo / Japan
2012
garden and half of there, world, and something, CAI02, Sapporo / Japan
Group Exhibitions
2019
Sapporo Art Stage 2019, SCARTS, Sapporo / Japan
BENIZAKURA ARTANNUAL 2019, Benizakura park, Sapporo / Japan
grafting, naebono art studio, Sapporo / Japan
ASYAAF, DDP, Seoul / South Korea
Grafting, Art space + cafe Barrack, Seto, Japan
2017
Sapporo international Art Festival 2017 – guest house project, Sapporo / Japan
Nanji 11th Season 1 Group Exhibition, SeMA Nanji Residency, Seoul / Korea
2016
Sapporo Art Stage 2016, Sapporo Station Underground Passage CHI KA HO / Sapporo / Japan
Assembrige NAGOYA 2016, MAT NAGOYA / Japan
Hekiga Planning 02, Terrace planning / Sapporo / Japan
Grants / Awards
2020
Japanese Government Overseas Research Program, Agency for Cultural Afairs, Japan
2016
Sapporo Station JR Tower Art Box / Japan
2015
Nomura Foundation Art and Cultural Grant / Japan
2013
Art Osaka, Grand Prize / Japan
Residency Program
2020
Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin/Germany
2019
Migrant Bird Space, Beijing/ China
2018
Points Center for Contemporary Art, Jinxi / China
2017
Soulangh Artist Village, Tainan / Taiwan
SeMA NANJI Residency, Seoul / Koreac
Vernissage: Thursday, 18th June 2020, 6:00 – 9:00 pm
Exhibition period: Friday 19th June – Thursday, 6th August 2020
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Exhibition Yuya Suzuki – Migrant Bird Space | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
