TANADA Koji uses the ancient traditional Japanese woodcarving technique of ichiboku zukuri, sculpture made from a single block of wood, to create statues of boys and girls. Children with slender limbs, expressive fingertips, and moist pupils that evoke diverse feelings. Giving expression to their immaturity and fragility that co-exist with supple possibilities of life, TANADA is attracting attention as a sculptor of the next generation. "○ & 一" is his first major solo exhibition in Tokyo.

Stone monuments, shrines of all sizes, temples and household altars. Since antiquity, we have worshipped presences beyond human understanding, offering our prayers in order to coexist with the invisible and the unexplainable. However, the highly advanced technology and the overflowing information have pushed these to remote areas in our consciousness.

Having visited Spiral many a time in preparation for the exhibition, TANADA states "the spaces of Spiral are meticulously calculated as architectural works, and due also to its location in Aoyama in the center of Tokyo, present not a hint of humanness or mystique. I thought it might be interesting to magnify the mystical sensation that altars, shrines and temples exude to introduce it to those spaces." A path that leads visitors straight from the entrance to Atrium like an approach to a shrine. A pair of standing statues created taking "Fujin" and "Raijin", the gods of wind and thunder as an inspiration. A red-eyed bride inspired by the view from the window facing onto Aoyama Street. A girl who stands poised as if to protect the small houses. Tanada will turn Spiral Garden itself into a work of art, employing mainly seven sculptures of boys and girls who are regarded as being closer to the gods precisely due to their ambiguity and immaturity, inviting visitors to an indeterminate and mystical world that continues to be impenetrable to information and technology.

This exhibition aimed to allow visitors to have an encounter with TANADA's works to contemplate the almost forgotten preciousness found in daily life and people's wisdom of life to be able to take the next step.

KOJI TANADA

1968 Born in Hyogo, Japan.
Lives in Kanagawa, Japan
Education:
1993 Tokyo Zokei University, BA in sculpture
1995 Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, MA in sculpture
2001 Stayed seven months in Berlin for Japanese government overseas study program for artist
Selected Exhibitions:
2011 "ZIPANGU - 31 spirited artists cutting through new territories of Japanese contemporary art,
Takashimaya Nihonbashi exhibition Hall (8F), Tokyo (traveling to Takashimaya Osaka, Takashimaya Kyoto)
2010 "SO + ZO," Bunkamura The Museum, Tokyo
"Collection 2," The National Museum of Art, Osaka
"Currents in Japanese Contemporary Wood Sculpture," Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Hokkaido
2009 "girl tying, " Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo
"Essential Experiences," Museo Regionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Palermo
"HAIKU - sculpture 2009," Okinawa Prefectural Arts University Library and Art Museum, Okinawa
2008 "Eleven boys, one girl," The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Shizuoka
"The Artists of the TARO Award 1," Taro Okamoto Museum of Art Kawasaki, Kanagawa
"Off the Rails," Mizuma & One Gallery, Beijing
2007 "Sculpture From Stories," Chinretsukan Gallery, The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of The Arts, Tokyo
"The Field of Memories - a gap in the fact and fiction," Tokyo Zokei University Yokoyama Memorial Manzu Museum, Tokyo
"Merida, Yucatan, City of Sculpture," Merida
2006 "Koji Tanada," void+, Tokyo
"Life," Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki
"DOMANI 2006," Sompo Japan Museum of Art, Tokyo
2005 "You or It, Miuzma Action", Tokyo
"The 8th Taro Okamoto Memorial Award for Contemporary Art," Taro Okamoto Museum of Art Kawasaki, Kanagawa
2004 "TOKYO STYLE in Sweden," Milliken Gallery, Stockholm
2003 "Skin Body Communication - Phyphysical -," Joshibi Art Museum, Kanagawa
"The Human Body in Contemporary Sculpture," Chinretsukan gallery, The University Art