about UNEASINESS

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Introduction of UNEASINESS a Japanese Artist Group. UNEASINESS consists of three modern artists based in the Osaka area, the largest metropolis in western Japan. All three of these artists share a degree of repulsion toward the medium of oils on canvas, yet they remain meticulously attached to the methodology of painting, and each of the artists has a unique expressive method. Ashitani Masato has immersed himself in the age-old tradition of woodblock printing, which has traditionally been a part of Japanese art history, and has mastered the skills in this genre. Still today, he persists in using chisels and engraving techniques for his works. The unique methods he has created during his long career include a methodology in which he can derive only one original copy, and one with a special printing process to make the outlines of the images blurred. Concurrently, he has adopts computer-linked inkjet printing and photography, all of which resonate with common effect. Oosawa Tatsuo had once been involved in producing optical art that made the viewers dizzy. His recent creative works may be encapsulated by a series of unique objects the surfaces of which are pictured and varnished, and then polished until it acquired enough gloss to reflect the viewers on them, thus, incorporating the viewers in the entire imagery,or reflecting other objects to create a kind of juxtaposition between a reflector and a reflected. When one looks at the object,one may go through a mysterious experience,akin to looking at a piece of glossy furniture or a musical instrument. As for the technique / style of Iwasawa Arimichi, together with the trapped air inside the translucent material he employs, the gravity and the feeling of tension, his works enchant the viewers. The forms painted on the surface, one might say, are symbols to allow the viewers to have recognition that the object is indeed translucent.Of late, he is often involved in the work of making moving pictures.At exhibition spaces,so metimes he goes as far as changing the flooring material for his installations in order to bring out a coordinated total effect. Each of the three artists holds separate exhibitions based at a different gallery, and together as Uneasiness, they have held eight joint exhibitions at Shinanobashi Art Gallery,the oldest gallery of contemporary art in Osaka.Since the second exhibition of this series,they began to invite one different artist each time tohold a joint exhibition.The three also put in a lot of their energies to hold larger-scale exhibitions. Holding a series of art exhibitions that has attracted considerable interest among the contemporary art circles for over eighteen years, they have become a kind of enigmatic artists. The reason for the longevity of their collaborative exhibitions may be their common strong interest in “visual perception”

ASHITANI MASATO (Left) IWASAWA ARIMICHI (Center) OSAWA TATSUO (Right)