David Castillo Gallery is proud to present milk crown and mushroom cloud, curated by Manabi Murata, Berlin. The artists in the exhibition, Tatsuya Higuchi, Takako Kimura, and Yuken Teruya do not attempt to present their works with grand gestures, but rather with a subtle and quiet yet at the same time powerful language. Three artistic points of view are presented in this group exhibition; using everyday objects, the artists inscribe their vision with ultimate intensity, making the least visible realities visible in very sensitive ways. With an emphasis on the importance of life, the artists take small indicators of being and give them high aesthetic considerations. Higuchi, Kimura, and Teruya act like infiltrators of phenomena in society giving the minute or basic things we hardly recognize anymore, a monumental platform and vision.

The granite mushroom cloud by Higuchi seems violent and evil (a reference to the sunny day in August 1945 when a small object fell from the sky and covered a city in smoke and ashes within a radius of 7 kilometers. At that moment the sky closed forever for over 70,000 people) yet is contrasted by the epitome of natural beauty in marble: the phenomenon of the milk crown, which occurs when a drop of milk falls back into milk. The work Moment captures in stone a deeper significance – the origin of life, of existence.

In an installation of boxed skies, Higuchi has recorded an endless series of individual moments that make us aware of our own existence when we pause for a moment and look up. There are 200 such moments in the installation, collected in boxes, which remain open. In order to sensitize observers to things they usually take for granted, the artist often installs his works at our feet, on the floor. The desire to detach a piece of sky and claim it as one’s own–a private sky that solely covers oneself–represents nothing less than a romantic attempt to comprehend the relationship between the self and the world.

Using everyday objects, like disposable bags from fast food restaurants or the cardboard inside toilet paper rolls, Yuken Teruya consciously cuts paper, which branch out and form a chain like a tree reaching for the sun and scattering its leaves in space to capture as much sunlight as possible. We feel enthusiasm stirring within us not only because of our optical fascination, but also because these simple things suddenly begin to come alive before our eyes. The objects used in his works force us to contemplate the cities in which we live and the interactions we have with objects we give little thought to. His works are a close examination and transformation of our perceptions and ideals.

Takako Kimura incorporates stickers into larger works in which the individual stickers compete for the viewer’s attention. The artist attempts something entirely new, creating a kind of society in which the separate pieces represent individuals. These new works consist of a hero narrative in which other narratives operate within her created environments. Her works intensely examine and disturb notions of self-involvement and an unbroken belief in form.

Milk Crown and Mushroom Cloud raises the important question not of how far we can go, but of how profoundly we may consider life and its surrounding and fleeting environment.

Tatsuya Higuchi and Takako Kimura are exhibiting their work for the first time in the United States. Higuchi and Kimura have been included in shows in Japan and Europe, including museum shows in both Japan and Germany. Yuken Teruya has exhibited previously in the US, including New York and California. He currently lives and works in New York and has been included in numerous exhibitions in the US, Europe, and Japan- including most recently The Shapes of Space at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and Making a Home at the Japan Society, also in New York.

Tatsuya Higuchi

Takako Kimura

Yuken Teruya

Curated by Manabi Murata