EXHIBITION

Ronald Ventura - An Introspective (Extended session)

Information

Period
2022.04.15 - 2022.06.26
Venue
Karuizawa New Art Museum
Exhibition Room (2nd Floor)
Open Hours
Open Hours : 10:00~17:00
* In August the Museum is open : 10:00-18:00
* Enter by 30 minutes before close 
Closed
Monday
Incidental
*If a Monday falls on a national holiday the following day is a holiday.
Please refer to the announcement.
Ticket
Ticket: General admission: ¥2000,
High school and university students: ¥1000,
Primary and secondary students: ¥500,
* ¥200 discount from above fees for groups over 20 people
* Preschool children, Disabled : Free, discount for an attendant (half of above fees)
Contact Information
Karuizawa New Art Museum
Tel. 0267-46-8691
Exhibition Section

About the Exhibition

Ronald Ventura was born in 1973 in Manila, Philippines where he still keeps working. He has been attracting attentions by presenting his creative pieces in various parts of not only the Western countries but also Asian area such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc. since his works were introduced at the exhibition of“ The Metaphysics of the Skin” held at the gallery in New York in 2009.
Ventura repeatedly digs deep into his identity, reflects on himself, and seeks the possibility of expression of“ Skin”, the outer layer of human beings. The way of expression has been consistent from his early works, which is created by incorporating things from multiple fields formatively and philosophically and overlapping them together, and then reflected those on his paintings and sculptures. The historical background of Philippines, long-term colonial domination by Spain, the United State and Japan, gives apocalyptic tone, whereas religious and cultural background gives festive atmosphere. Chimeras, repeatedly appeared in his works, are symbionts of plants and animals with human beings, which stir the world connoting Filipino folklore, animism of indigenous culture, and even divine beasts in Greek mythology. The chaotic world of this artist looks disorderly and mirrors the complexity of Filipino culture directly. “I am interested in that created by setting my mind free from the meaning of the original image and blending it with other elements to interact with one another, which betrays the primary meaning of the image and makes new one. … These combination patterns are infinite, and I have not seen the completion of this work, yet. ”As Ventura mentioned above, the elements seen in his works can be read as metaphors for unconscious crashes relating to his own identity.
Karuizawa New Art Museum will present the retrospective exhibition of Ronald Ventura held at the halfway point of his career covering approximately one hundred and twenty works from the solid pieces to the new paintings created for the past thirty years. This is the first trial to exhibit his works at a museum in Japan, so we would appreciate it if many people visited us to enjoy the display.




Main image on the top: Untitled, 2021, Oil on canvas, 243.8 ×365.8㎝


List of Works

Highlights of the Exhibition !
1. A dog guardian deity over 3 meters tall with a golden bone ?! "Boblo" is here!
2. The fantastic and neo-futuristic world created by “Black Star Series”, a group of jet black sculptures and a“ Boat” floating in the air!
3. Spectacular works epitomizing the world with American-born pop icons and Japanese anime characters
4. Obsessive passion and love of objects: from the colorful unicorn’s horns to the melting bears!


Keep an eye on that above!











◇ Concept of the Exhibition
〇 The 1st Floor  : Prologue
〇 Exhibition Space 1 : Black Star series with a Boat
〇 Exhibition Space 2 : From the melting bears to the unicorn horns
〇 Exhibition Space 3 : Spectacular works epitomizing the world
〇 Exhibition Space 4 : Danger Zone
〇 Exhibition Space 5 : Homage to classical art and dead ends
〇 Exhibition Space 6 : Diagnosis Room
〇 Epilogue



Unicorn horn 3, 2012 Fiberglass, resin, polyurethan paint, LED Lights, 292.1× 69.8× 69.8 cm



Exhibition view taken by 360°camera

◇ the article from Sankei Newspaper appeared on September 17th, 2021
about the exhibition from here


◇ the article 1 from Sankei Mail magazine appeared on August 28th, 2021
Getting close to the charm of one of leading artists in Asia, Ronald Ventura in Original website
→→The text in English from here

◇ the article 2 from Sankei Mail magazine appeared on September 15th, 2021
Classical art, Homage and Quotations

◇ the article 3 from Sankei Mail magazine appeared on October 19th, 2021
On sculptures by Ventura



◇ Commentary of Picked-up themes

Bobro, 2018
Black Star Series and Waves, 2016
Regarding the sculptures in the room 2 ‎
About the Paintings, Focusing on Room 3 ‎
About the “Disturbingly Fragrant Animals” in Room 4
About Ventura's signboard-type works in Room 4
About TV-type works: Looking at us living in a "show society"
Over D fence , 2017
Crossroad to Nowhere, 2015
Untitled (Crucifixion), 2021


メッセージ

Bobro, 2018, Fiberglass, resin, acrylic, gold leaf 317.5×165.1×137.2cm

Ronald Ventura (1973- ) is one of the most remarkable artists in the world art scene representing Asia now.
His works have been introduced at galleries and museums in the United States, Europe and Asian countries, and received high acclaim as
cutting-edge contemporary art. Ventura modernly updated the technique of Surrealism which represents unconscious world fantastically and expresses the aspects of the society. The various images welled up from his imagination were entangled in the paintings and the objects, and such chaotic world expressed and completed the complexed modern society accurately with the high technique and his
own sense.
Contemporary art is sometimes said to be hard to appreciate, however, his work has popular anime and game characters, and realistic people, animals, familiar landscapes, ordinary life, etc. placed in parallel on one single object, from which you can feel many things instinctively.
We believe that each visitor from specialized art fans to a wide range of generations can enjoy various representations and images of his works.
As this is the first exhibition of the notable artist, Ronald Ventura, held at a museum in Japan, the largest collection ever of his works is introduced.
We would appreciate it if as many visitors as possible could enjoy the exhibition on this occasion.

Karuizawa New Art Museum, Director Eiichi Matsuhashi




◇The exhibition on video in a digest version from here →Ronald Ventura- An Introspective


◇Click here for the full version!

  


Profile

Biography

1973  Born in Manila, Philippines
1993  Graduated from University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines with BFA in Painting, which is the oldest university in Asia.
             After the graduation, taught at his alma mater as the instructor in Art for a while.
2005    Won the Ateneo Art Gallery Studio Residency Grant in Sydney, Australia for his “ Human Study series”.
2009    “ Metaphysics of Skin” at Tyler Rollins Fine Art Gallery in New York
2011     His painting Grayground set a record for the most ever paid for a work of Southeast Asian artist at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings auction in Hong Kong.
             “ Surreal Versus Surrealism” in Contemporary Art, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain
             “ A Thousand Islands” at Tyler Rollins Fine Art Gallery in New York
              “ Humanime (I)” at Fine Art Centre, Taipei, Taiwan
2013   “Voids and Cages” at Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong, China
2014   “Bulul, Ronald Ventura and the traditional art of the Philippines”, at Museo delle Culture, Lugano, Switzerland
2016      “ Project: Finding Home” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
2018   “ Comic Lives”at Whitestone Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2021      “ Comic Stripes” at Whitestone Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
              “ Ronald Ventura- An Introspective”at Karuizawa New Art Museum, Nagano, Japan

              And other numerous exhibitions


Image

Untitled, 2021, Oil on canvas, 304.8×213.4 cm

Comicosmic 2, 2020, Oil on canvas with fiberglass, resin frame, 96.5×78.7㎝

Hyper Beast, 2017, Fiberglass, resin,metal, oil paint, polyurethan paint, 71.1×256.5×116.8 ㎝


Sponsorship

General incorporated Foundation Karuizawa New Art Museum

Supervision

(Planning) Ronald Ventura Studio , General incorporated Foundation Karuizawa New Art Museum

Cooperation

NEW ART HOLDINGS Co., Ltd. Whitestone Co., Ltd.

Support

Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines, Tokyo, Japan
Nagano-prefecture, Nagano Prefectural Board of Education, Karuizawa-machi, The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun, SHIN-ETSU Broadcasting Co., LTD, Nagano Broadcasting Systems, Inc. TV. Shinshu Broadcasting Co. LTD., Asahi Broadcasting Nagano Co., Ltd., FM KARUIZAWA, Karuizawa the Paper (ADAID, Inc.), Karuizawa NEWS