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Bontaro Dokuyama "Contact Distance —"
Leesaya
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Bontaro Dokuyama
This exhibition will begin on August 6, the day when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and end on August 15, the day when Japan surrendered in the Second World War. In this summer marking the milestone 80th year after the war’s end, it is an attempt to take another look at the memories of the war and its devastation, and ways of transmitting them to the generations that do not know them.
Today, when people who directly experienced the war are decreasing in number, how should we come to grips with the string of memories that still abide and the difficulty of passing them on? How can we imagine, share, and transmit these memories and the associated pain? The exhibition will quietly pose these questions through the works displayed.
Besides a painting (the first painting made by Dokuyama by hand) reflecting a reinterpretation of the radio broadcast of emperor himself reading the “Imperial Rescript of Japan’s Surrender,” the works shown at the venue will include a new installation using a daily pad calendar and audio works that were exhibited for a limited time under a reservation system in 2023.
The “distance” in the title Contact Distance — refers to the asymmetry of standpoint and experience between those who were involved in the destruction and war (the affected) and those who were not, those who were educated in the arts and those who were not, those who speak and those who listen, and the living and the dead. Dokuyama’s purpose is to make this distance itself visible instead of straining to bridge it.
The occurrence of the Great East Japan Earthquake and accompanying catastrophe at the Fukushima Daichi Power Station in 2001 prompted Dokuyama to journey around Fukushima Prefecture, where he was born, and begin to produce works of art. Thereafter as well, he traveled to Okinawa, Taiwan, South Korea, Sakhalin, the United States, and other countries. At these destinations, he visited sites where prewar, wartime, and postwar memories of Japan remained, in order to research them and produce works inspired by them. The artist himself says that he began doing art owing to the 2011 disaster, but had not received any formal education in art. From this standpoint, he continues to express not central themes but fringe happenings and memories, as if tracing their outlines. These works embody the build-up of acts aimed at transcending distance and touching something. Dokuyama’s works leave behind footholds for such contact within our hearts.
We hope that this exhibition will serve as an occasion to ponder the end of the war and coming of peace, and mourn the dead. Although its run is short, we are eagerly looking forward to seeing you at Contact Distance —, the solo exhibition by Bontaro Dokuyama.
Today, when people who directly experienced the war are decreasing in number, how should we come to grips with the string of memories that still abide and the difficulty of passing them on? How can we imagine, share, and transmit these memories and the associated pain? The exhibition will quietly pose these questions through the works displayed.
Besides a painting (the first painting made by Dokuyama by hand) reflecting a reinterpretation of the radio broadcast of emperor himself reading the “Imperial Rescript of Japan’s Surrender,” the works shown at the venue will include a new installation using a daily pad calendar and audio works that were exhibited for a limited time under a reservation system in 2023.
The “distance” in the title Contact Distance — refers to the asymmetry of standpoint and experience between those who were involved in the destruction and war (the affected) and those who were not, those who were educated in the arts and those who were not, those who speak and those who listen, and the living and the dead. Dokuyama’s purpose is to make this distance itself visible instead of straining to bridge it.
The occurrence of the Great East Japan Earthquake and accompanying catastrophe at the Fukushima Daichi Power Station in 2001 prompted Dokuyama to journey around Fukushima Prefecture, where he was born, and begin to produce works of art. Thereafter as well, he traveled to Okinawa, Taiwan, South Korea, Sakhalin, the United States, and other countries. At these destinations, he visited sites where prewar, wartime, and postwar memories of Japan remained, in order to research them and produce works inspired by them. The artist himself says that he began doing art owing to the 2011 disaster, but had not received any formal education in art. From this standpoint, he continues to express not central themes but fringe happenings and memories, as if tracing their outlines. These works embody the build-up of acts aimed at transcending distance and touching something. Dokuyama’s works leave behind footholds for such contact within our hearts.
We hope that this exhibition will serve as an occasion to ponder the end of the war and coming of peace, and mourn the dead. Although its run is short, we are eagerly looking forward to seeing you at Contact Distance —, the solo exhibition by Bontaro Dokuyama.
Schedule | Aug 6 (Wed) 2025-Aug 15 (Fri) 2025 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Free | ||
| Website | https://leesaya.jp/exhibitions/contactdistance/ | ||
| Venue | Leesaya http://www.leesaya.jp/ | ||
| Location | 3-14-2 Shimomeguro, Meguro-Ku, Tokyo 153–0064 | ||
| Access | 7 minute walk from Fudomae Station on the Tokyu Meguro line. 20 minute walk from the Main exit of Meguro Station on the JR Yamanote, Namboku, Toei Mita or Tokyu Meguro line. | ||
| Phone | 03-6881-4389 | ||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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