#2 CLEANING (Project Ephemeral), by Takayuki Matsuo

Please join us for CLEANING – Project Ephemeral, the second of four monthly interventions led by the RU artist Takayuki Matsuo in outdoor spaces.  

What is considered beautiful or dirty depends on individual subjectivity and on Wednesday, July 31, Matsuo will undertake deliberate actions of  “cleaning” that examine those very notions. Whether peeling paint from a discarded bicycle frame or sweeping up dirt from the abandoned site, each action he chooses will be ruled by this question: “What can we see by returning something to its original state?”.

 #2, CLEANING is part of  Project Ephemeral, a series of four one-day exhibitions held between June and September 2019 in non-white cube locations such as abandoned buildings, streets of New York, roadsides and vacant lots. Following a set of self-assigned rules, Matsuo investigates, cleans, restores, preserves, and archives “the modest thing that is already in there”. Matsuo does not claim these actions as artistic ones but as every day gestures that viewers who happen to be on the spot will interpret as a mirage or a total solar eclipse.

Takayuki Matsuo takes his inspiration from collecting found objects mainly from the street. His practice is shaped by the concept of “the usefulness of the uselessness” borrowed from ancient Chinese philosophy. Matsuo thinks of the value of things through “natural artifacts” that are being naturalized by losing their original function due to aging and external factors. His goal is to maximize their potential and eliminate ego and subjective action in the creative process as much as possible. His artistic approach is influenced by various sources including Wajiro Kon (”Modern archeology” ) through to Genpei Akasegawa (“Street Observation”) and Japanese contemporary art.

Takayuki Matsuo’s residency and this program are made possible with the support from Qualix Inc.