EUGENE STUDIO After the rainbow

The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) is delighted to present After the rainbow, the first solo exhibition in a Japanese museum of work from the EUGENE STUDIO. Based in Japan, the EUGENE STUDIO is headed by Eugene Kangawa, a promising young American-born artist who is the subject of growing international acclaim. As Kangawa was born in 1989, this will also be the first solo exhibition at MOT by an artist born during Japan’s Heisei era (1989–2019).
The EUGENE STUDIO has won praise in Japan and around the world for work shown at exhibitions including 89+ (2014, Serpentine Gallery, London), THE EUGENE Studio 1/2 Century later. (2017, Shiseido Gallery), The Centennial Exhibition of Shiseido Gallery (2018–2019), and de-sport (2020, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa). The studio’s freedom of conception across a wide array of activities have found admirers across the globe, with notable projects ranging from a collaboration with renowned American SF author Ken Liu to Phantosia, a 2019 installation at the National Art Center, Tokyo, in which Noh was performed in pitch darkness. In 2021, two short films debuted by the EUGENE STUDIO in the United States were officially selected for showings at several international film festivals recognized by the Academy Awards, including the Pan African Film Festival.
After the rainbow will showcase two-dimensional works, large-scale installations, video, and sculptural works from the EUGENE STUDIO. From the acclaimed White Painting series (2017–) and Beyond good and evil, make way toward the wasteland (2017) to entirely new pieces, the exhibition will explore the perspectives, ideas, and philosophies that underlie the studio’s diverse body of work. These are not mere two-dimensional visions but works that instantiate our own existence within the environs and cycles of society as they sublimate a host of themes in parallel, from individual interests and art history to past phenomena and civilization itself. After the rainbow calls on us to find the wisdom we need at this turning point in history to turn our gaze away from expressions grounded in criticism or irony and toward the real as we propel ourselves into the future.

Exhibition special website
https://mot-solo-aftertherainbow.the-eugene-studio.com/en/

About the Artist

EUGENE STUDIO
Japan-based art studio headed by Eugene Kangawa (born 1989 in the USA). Previous major showcases include the solo exhibition THE EUGENE Studio 1/2 Century later. (2017, Shiseido Gallery) and the installation Phantosia, which featured Noh performed in pitch darkness (2019, National Art Center, Tokyo). Contributed to the exhibition 89+ (2014, Serpentine Gallery, London), worked with the London-based collective Assemble for The Centennial Exhibition of Shiseido Gallery (2018–2019), participated in de-sport (2020, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa), and collaborated with renowned American SF novelist Ken Liu on Alter (2017). Currently showing two short films (2021; USA, Japan) as official selections at multiple international film festivals recognized by the Academy Awards, including the Pan African Film Festival.

* All programs are subject to change.

Exhibition teaser

Studio Visit with Artist Eugene Kangawa | EUGENE STUDIO: After the rainbow