Masayuki Koorida: Beyond Existence

Joseph Antenucci Becherer, vice president and chief curator, discusses the latest exhibition atMiejer Garden’s indoor exhibitions space, Masayuki Koorida’s “Beyond Existence”. (WKTV)

By Joshua Kennedy, WKTV Intern

If you know the work of Japanese artist Masayuki Koorida exclusively from the polished, yet unfinished, stones of “Existence”, located in the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park’s Japanese Garden, you are in for a surprise.

Masayuki Koorida. (Supplied/courtesy of the artist)

WKTV had the opportunity to meet with Joseph Antenucci Becherer, vice president and chief curator, to discuss the latest exhibition at the garden’s indoor exhibitions space, Koorida’s “Beyond Existence”, which was unveiled late last month.

Becherer said that the new exhibit is really focused not only on the artist but on the audience’s interaction with the exhibit.

“What makes this exhibit unique we really tried to keep the text and information we share with the audience to a minimum,” he said. “So that the people have a greater opportunity to experience, whether the piece is in marble or granite or stainless steel or the drawings, just to take in the work, to understand the shape and understand the form.”

The idea behind this was to give the visitors a fully immersive experience; delving deep into what Koorida is truly about by first viewing the indoor exhibition then making their way outside and contemplating “existence” while viewing his permanent piece in the Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden.

Following last year’s exhibition of the works of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, and asked if it was a conscious decision to present diversity in modern Asian art and artists, Becherer said that the conscious decision on the Garden’s part was to “take the opportunity to host a sculptor who has a work in the permanent collection” and feature them with their own exhibition.

Koorida is relatively new to the American art scene; Becherer said the Gardens was first made aware of his artwork between 2010 and 2011. So it has been “a long journey” with the artist for the Gardens. Interestingly, though, he said he did not first notice Koorida’s work in his native country of Japan.

“Ironically having been born in Japan, and working in China today, we actually first saw his work in Germany,” Becherer said. “So there was a global path of what he is doing.”

His global path has now led Koorida to being prominently featured in one of his first major solo exhibitions here in the United States.

Masayuki Koorida’s “Alteration”. (Supplied/courtesy of the artist)

Although Koorida is relatively unknown to American art enthusiasts, Becherer believes that the “caliber of the work, the quality of the thought and the diversity of materials (used in his artwork) will really draw the attention of the visitors of Meijer Gardens.”

Sculptors physical requirements are much higher than most other art forms. They need a lot of space and adequate material which contributes to Koorida’s main base of operations now being in Shanghai, China, which, according to supplied material, is very close to some of that country’s stone quarries.

Becherer went on to explain the importance to sculptural artists of proximity to quarries is historic, even going so far as to mention the great Michelangelo in the same conversation and point out similar tendencies when he moved to Italy to be close to the stone quarries.

Koorida is also often inspired by nature and its simplicity. Having both his indoor exhibition and outdoor displays to witness allows guests to really contemplate both, as well as simply to contemplate “existence”.

The exhibit runs through August 19, for more information visit here. And see more of the interview with Becherer on the next WKTV Journal newscast on cable television and YouTube.

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By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park announced Monday that its next featured exhibit will be Masayuki Koorida: Beyond Existence — an exhibit which will both build compliment the partially carved and polished boulders of the artist’s “Existance”, a focal point of the The Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden, and will expand on the artist’s emerging genius.

Masayuki Koorida’s “Existence”, in Japanese Garden setting. (Supplied/Dean Van Dis)

“As one of his first gallery presentations in the United States, (Koorida’s) repertoire will reach and inform a broad audience,” Joseph Antenucci Becherer, Meijer Gardens chief curator and vice president said in supplied material. “Our relationship with Koorida is very important to Meijer Gardens and dates to the commission of his acclaimed piece ‘Existence’ in our Japanese garden. His use of materials and form is both elegant and contemplative.”

The exhibit, opening May 25, showcases Koorida’s work with a wide range of materials and his broader repertoire, which includes highly geometric pieces in a variety of scale and materials, but maybe most interesting will be a series of large, never-before-seen drawings created specifically for this exhibition. This exhibition runs through Aug. 19.

In the last decade, according to material supplied by Meijer Gardens, Koorida has emerged as “one of the most elegant voices in contemporary sculpture.” While his work has been exhibited in China, Japan and Europe, he is still relatively unseen in the United States.

And the artist has expressed his appreciation for the opportunity the Meijer Gardens exhibit will afford.

“Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is the first sculpture park that has collected my work in the United States,” Koorida said in supplied material. “Since the first time that I visited for the (‘Existence’) project in 2013, I have been to Meijer Gardens several times. I always find something new to discover; including great sculptures, exhibitions, beautiful flowers and gardens.

“I feel that the park is loved by people very much. It has been a great honor to be part of the collection. I am very glad to hold this solo exhibition at Meijer Gardens in 2018, it is exciting to have people experience it.”

Koorida (b. 1960, in Kyoto, Japan) lives in and works from a studio in Shanghai, China. According to supplied information, the artist placed his studio in China so that he is in close contact with abundant stone quarries in south China, and also allows him an opportunity to have a large industrial space for carving and polishing. He operates a very hands-on studio with few assistants and is physically engaged with his work. He is most well known for his sculpture in stone that range in scale from table top to the monumental, from single forms to small groups of related images. Koorida travels widely in search of the right stones for the right projects; granite is preferred, but he also works in black and white marble.

To show how little he has been shown in the United State’s, the only YouTube videos of his shows are from Europe. Visit here for an video in Italian.

The exhibit will include special programing including:

A discussion titled “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: When is a Stone Just a Stone and When is it Art?”, by Dr. Craig Hanson, on Sunday, June 3, from 2-3 p.m. The talk will explore the questions of sculpture or structure? Artform or accident? Decorative art or garden decor? “For millennia, stone has been used for decidedly unartistic purposes as well as the material of choice for many sculptors. This lecture explores how stone takes on new meaning as an art form while highlighting ‘Existence’.”

There will also Japanese Garden Sculpture Walk, with Anna Wolff, Meijer Gardens curator of arts education, on both Sunday, July 15, at 2 p.m., and on Tuesday, Aug. 7, at 6 p.m. The free with admission walking tour of the sculpture in The Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden will focus on what “makes this garden one of the most unique in the nation as we explore themes of tranquility, permanence and the relationship of humanity and the natural environment.”

For more information visit meijergardens.org .