West Harlem/Meatpacking District/Woodside … The West Harlem Art Fund and Ivy Brown Gallery are pleased to announce that they will install Mr. Kenjiro Kitade’s work Sleeping Beauty in July, 2010. According to Executive Director, Savona Bailey-McClain, “We are honored to have Ms. Sai Morikawa as our guest curator and Mr. Kitade as our artist for this exhibition. We welcome the opportunity to push the boundaries of public art even further in NYC”. This installation will be in Woodside, Queens on the triangle at the intersection of Roosevelt and 39th Avenues and 66th Street where there is a substantial Asian population nearby. But the organization wants to expose the broader community which is very diverse to new ways of looking at life from familiar stories. The organizers wish to thank the Urban Art Program at the NYC Department of Transportation.
Description of the Project
Reclining Buddha is the imagery that depicts the moment of Buddha’s passing and entry into Nirvana. In Buddhist teaching, Nirvana is the perfect peace of the state of mind that is free from craving, anger, and other affective state. It is also introduced as the “Absolute Truth”.
According to the artist, Kenjiro Kitade, though using the imagery of “Reclining Buddha” sounds interesting, it is too straightforward and it might give a misleading impression to a viewer that the work is strictly taken from Buddhist teaching. What I wanted to address through this work is what I call “Change of Value”, not the Buddhist teaching.
I started searching for similar imagery with the “Reclining Buddha”. It had to have a separate meaning from the religious message. I focused on the configuration of the image that Buddha is laying down at the center surrounded by people. Then I found an image that perfectly matched. “Sleeping Beauty”: a fairly tale classic, the first in the set published in 1697 by Charles Perrault, Contes de ma Mère l'Oye ("Tales of Mother Goose") and later remake in animation and ballet.
A beautiful Princess was put into sleep for 100 years by enchantment of bad witch. She awakes from long sleep by the kiss of true love. I found several similarities in both imageries; main figure is lying down in the center of the image, main character is watched over by loved ones and they are both surrounded by forest or woods. By mixing and connecting both images, I can make a piece that’s separate from strong religious imagery, at the same time, keep my original idea intact. There are similarities in both stories. The keyword is “Awake”. In both stories, the main characters have experienced passing from one world and entering to another world by “awakening”. Buddha was trying to find the answer to the “Absolute Truth”, one day he became “awaken”, and at the end of his life, he finally reached in Nirvana. In Sleeping Beauty, the princess was put into sleep for 100 years and was in a dreamlike state. This separated her from the difficulties and sufferings of real life. But then she awoke and came back to the reality.
After awakening from long a sleep, the princess had to now face reality. She was lucky enough to fall in love with the prince, her true love and got married. But she was no longer in a dream; she had to face sufferings and difficulties in real life. But by facing, experiencing and overcoming the difficulties of life, one could only walk through the pass to the “Absolute Truth”.
Maybe, we are in a dream; trying not to face reality. We know that there are obvious problems and failure in our current system, such as over production and over consumption, but we cannot simply give up because that system has given us an affluent society. But the clock keeps ticking and time will not wait. Now is the time for us to awake as the princess did and face our “bitter sweet” reality.
Artist Statement
Sheep have been used in many metaphoric expressions, proverbs and allegorical stories among different cultures. “Obedience” and “Cowardice” are the typical imagery of how sheep have been portrayed. The relationship between a shepherd and sheep symbolize the relationship between the rule and the ruled. In the guise of sheep, I can present human frailty. The sheep is a metaphor and is use to spotlight human conditions.
My sheep are imbued with human characteristics, feelings emotions, and often times, form. This blurs the understanding of this easily recognizable symbol and all that the lamb characteristically means. What you see is a creature fixed between two worlds that can now tell you a story. I am – as Japanese who is submerged in a foreign culture-like my sheep, transfixed in a world between worlds. I am seated in the place where I see that both worlds can peacefully coexist as one, but only with the ability to yield.
Gas Mask Symbolism
The gas mask represents "anxiety" toward today's environmental issues. It is a metaphor for how we should address environmental issues on a global scale. I wish some day, that we come up with good solutions for today's environment issues, so that she (Sleeping Beauty) will take off her gas mask and awake from very, very long sleep. This is my representation of "hope" for our future.
The site can be reached from either the 61st Street Woodside or 69th Street Roosevelt Ave. stop on the #7 Train and then a short walk to 66th Street.
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