Page 15 - Art-in-Israel

This was my first time serving as a juror at the Osaka Triennale be found on exhibit. It hardly needs to be said at this stage that a
Exhibition. At the opening of the primary slide adjudication, wide range of techniques and styles. Pros and cons apart, I
the news that we were to judge 5,062 entries from 91 personally was somewhat concerned at the high proportion of
countries and areas came as no surprise, as we expected works that incorporated photographic techniques; yet, this is
many prints to be entered. What did, however, throw us into a too complex a reaction to describe in a few words.
panic was seeing the slides for the Japanese entries projected Conversely, such works brought home to me the fact that we
on the screen. This was because even grand masters of the naturally have no greater ultimate concern than to give priority
stature of Yozo Hamaguchi and Fumiaki Fukita had submitted to how well a print speaks through the medium of the plane
entries; one would not normally have expected artists of such figure, rather than concerning ourselves with the degree of
standing to have the least interest in competitive events for difficulty involved in the medium.
younger artists. Their presence brought home to us the This point is probably best typified by Mr. Basil Colin Frank
extent to which this event become a truly global one, not (Israel), our Grand Prize winner. He has used a skewed
simply in terms of the number of entries, but also in terms of photograph of the sea at sunset, on which he uses montage to
their quality and quantity. superimpose the head of a white dog and the jaws of a shark,
Some 150 works emerged as qualifiers from the primary producing a work that this both eerie and disquieting. Still, it
adjudication process, and the original pieces were assembled came as something of a surprise to find that it was the bizarre
to undergo the second adjudication process to decide on the tension of this work that won the votes of many the judges. I
winning creations. A more stunning array of creations than myself had favored the work of Mr. Keisei Kobayashi, which had
those assembled for the second jury would be difficult to been a firm contender with that of Mr. Frank right up to the very
imagine. Overall, there was a great proportion of large-scale end.
works, which was striking given the stated medium. Certain
composite prints of as many as 12 meters in width were to Hideo Tomiyama
Director, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan

ART IN ISRAEL ART IN ISRAEL
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WORLD OF ART WORLD OF ART