Landscape of Delft, Netherlands - Reference Photo
 

One of the gallerys operations is installation work. This mainly refers to the preparatory work involved in creating the space for holding an exhibition. Tasks such as unpacking artworks, adjusting lighting, and creating captions are carried out in accordance with the exhibition plan.

Each time, we use putty and paint to restore the walls to a pristine condition. After the exhibition is over, we are always freshly amazed at how the impression of the space can feel so different, even with the same floor plan. It is one of my favorite tasks among all the gallery work.

 

There is a passage that made me keenly aware of the effect a single painting can have on the surrounding space, and the strength of its influence. It is a critical text by Gilles Aillaud, comparing the way light is expressed in Vermeers View of Delft (1659–60) with that of his contemporary painter Rembrandt.

 

After prefacing that the objects and things Rembrandt paints are intervened by "light from elsewhere," giving them "a theatrical mode of existence," the text goes on to describe Vermeers light as follows.

[…Vermeers light is never a light from elsewhere that transports us to another universe. It makes us feel that this world is ineffably singular. At times, View of Delft appears to my eyes as beautiful as though it did not actually exist — as if, in place of this painting, a real window had been opened in the wall of the museum. A real window that makes all the other paintings hanging in the same room, including those by Rembrandt, appear graceless.]

— Excerpted from "Seeing Without Being Seen" in "The Legacy of Criticism," from Vermeer (1991, Libroport), by Gilles Aillaud, translated by Kunio Iwaya.

From this passage, one can sense how the moment View of Delft was hung, an otherwise ordinary "wall" became a "real window," acting upon the space and creating a sense of depth.

During installation, regardless of the size of the works, there are times when one feels either a sense of compression or expansiveness in the space. This is due to the presence that the works themselves emit. Occasionally, it becomes necessary to rearrange and adjust their placement.

 

SHIN ISHIKAWA《Beginning》 2024  Inkjet Print open edition 29.7×21.0cm
 

Now, do we ever turn our attention to the walls of our more familiar living spaces? When watching foreign dramas, I often notice that paintings are frequently displayed in the homes of the characters. Whether the walls are filled to the brim or not, the works seem to capture the tastes of the residents, and nothing feels out of place. In Japanese dramas, however, when paintings do appear, they somehow look unnatural — as if borrowed from somewhere else.

While furniture and small decorative items are thoroughly researched, paintings never quite seem to fit. This may be a reflection of the fact that the habit of individuals buying and displaying artwork has not yet taken root in Japan.

 

Hisae Isogami, House in the Universe, 2024 Woodblock print, Japanese paper, watercolor ED.2 60×91cm

Borrowed paintings bring to my mind the open house tours of model rooms. And from there, the words of an architect come to me: "Let us furnish our homes in bad taste." These are the words of architect Adolf Loos*, who spoke out against the attitude of living exactly as some prescribed style dictates. I will quote the following passage, though it is a little long.

[Let us furnish our homes in bad taste. And if it happens to be in good taste, that is all the better. I want no more of being subjected to violence by our dwellings and rooms. (…) And let us buy whatever we like. Without worrying about whether things match, let us simply buy whatever appeals to us. Buy what pleases you, act in a way that pleases you! For in doing so, we are already expressing our own style. (…) Even if it is in bad taste, it is a style created by the taste of one person, and of a family.]

— Ornament and Crime, Adolf Loos, translated by Tetsuo Ito, Chikuma Shobo

Loos was a person who preferred simplicity in everything used in daily life — from furniture and clothing to cigarette cases and cake decoration. He is known for making provocative statements such as "ornament is crime," and his words and actions were at times strikingly radical. Yet as can be seen from the passage quoted above, he respected above all else the autonomy of the person who inhabits a space. We must not confuse the "ornament" that Loos speaks of with art. This is because "ornament" refers to the layering of decoration upon decoration — the application of "unnecessary embellishment" to something that already possesses its own inherent beauty.

It makes perfect sense that an architect whose gaze was fixed on enriching the "interior" with the comfort and ease of the inhabitant in mind would seek to remove the unnecessary elements found in the "exterior" — that is, "ornament." Discerning what is and is not unnecessary is, I think, where the difficulty lies. Yet Loos suggests that a "modern man" (in Looss era, the 19th century) would be capable of making that distinction. One wonders what he would say if addressing the "contemporary person" of today.

If we were to interpret Looss words in a way that suits us, we would want to welcome into our homes whatever feels comfortable to us — regardless of whether others might consider it to be in bad taste. If the home, together with its inhabitant, is to change and grow, gradually acquiring the history and style of the person who lives there, then that process must always be fluid and unfinished. It is through lived experience — sensing how the interior space can expand or feel oppressive depending on the aesthetic that the inhabitant creates — that one slowly cultivates the "eye" for letting go of what is unnecessary.

text：tomiko mabuchi
 

Mayumi Oku, House, 2017 Drypoint, Aquatint, Etching, Mezzotint 1/5 17.5×11.5cm
 

*Adolf Loos (1870–1933) was a pioneer of modern architecture, born in the small city of Brno in the Czech Republic, who was active in Vienna and Paris. Documentation on Loos is scarce, and he is said to be a figure shrouded in mystery. Major works: Café Museum (Vienna, 1899), American Bar (Vienna, 1908), Steiner House (Vienna, 1910), Looshaus (Vienna, 1911), Müller Villa (Prague, 1930), and others.

 

関連ページ
SHIN ISHIKAWA「Beginning」
Hisae Isogami「House in the Universe」
Mayumi Oku「House」