ARKO2023 ～ Tanihara Natsuko’s “New Tale of the Bamboo Cutter” Blossoms After Three Years

Painter Tanihara Natsuko, who faces a jet-black support surface taller than herself, without even noticing that paint has gotten into her long hair.

She is the invited artist for ARKO (Artist in Residence Kurashiki, Ohara) 2023, a program run by Kurashiki City's Ohara Museum of Art with the aim of supporting young artists and sending out original forms of expression from Kurashiki.

The eerie yet gorgeous, mysterious world of Tanihara Natsuko, woven single-mindedly in the studio left behind by Kojima Torajiro, has been on display since July 11, 2023.

We visited the studio while the work was still in progress.

What is ARKO, a program supporting young artists?

ARKO (Artist in Residence Kurashiki, Ohara) is a program that Ohara Museum of Art has run since fiscal 2005, aiming to "support young artists," "make use of the studio used by Western-style painter Kojima Torajiro, who laid the foundation of Ohara Museum of Art," and "send out information from Kurashiki"; the selected artist can devote themselves to a production residency in Kurashiki City.

The artist selected through open recruitment stays in Kurashiki for up to three months, creating work in the studio within Muisonso, which Kojima Torajiro used as his base of activity, and the completed work is exhibited at Ohara Museum of Art. Tanihara Natsuko was selected as the invited artist through the open recruitment for "ARKO2020," but ARKO was forced to be postponed due to the impact of the spread of COVID-19. This time, as "ARKO2023," Tanihara's residency production has finally been carried out, and the completed work will be shown at the Craft Gallery (Munakata Shiko Room) of Ohara Museum of Art.

Ohara Museum of Art: Exhibition/Event Information (ARKO2023 Tanihara Natsuko)

Tanihara Natsuko, who carried out creative activities during fiscal 2023, is the 18th invited artist.

The career of artist Tanihara Natsuko

Ms. Tanihara was born in Saitama Prefecture in 1989. She lives in Hyogo Prefecture.

She completed the oil painting program in the Painting Major of the Graduate School of Fine Arts at Kyoto City University of Arts in 2016, and in 2021 completed the doctoral program in Fine Arts at the same university's Graduate School of Fine Arts.

She currently creates work based in the Kansai region.

Creating in Kojima Torajiro's studio in Sakazu, Kurashiki City, his base of activity

The studio we were led to—with warnings such as "Please be careful not to slip on the withered grass. Don't trust this stone either; it could suddenly collapse"—was deep in the mountains, up a slope, in a spot that made us think, "Is this really Sakazu, Kurashiki City?"

It stands on the grounds of Muisonso, the villa of Ohara Magosaburo, who built Ohara Museum of Art, and is normally not open to the public.

It is said to have been built in 1927 to produce a painting of the Imperial Conference declaring war on Russia, intended for donation to the Seitoku Memorial Picture Gallery in Meiji Jingu Gaien, and it has no electricity supply, nor facilities such as air conditioning or artificial lighting.

Ms. Tanihara had been creating work in this studio since April 2023.

Because the light coming through the west, east, and south windows shifts position depending on the day, the studio is designed to bring in indirect light from the ceiling and natural light from the north side.

It is a typical studio building of that era.

It is a large studio with a total floor area of about 150㎡—the production space alone exceeds 70㎡—and beyond the windows spreads a deep green forest, rich in nature.

Tanihara Natsuko's residency production, carrying three years of feeling, gets underway

Tanihara Natsuko had been selected through the open recruitment for "ARKO2020," but the residency production was postponed due to the spread of COVID-19.

After three years had passed, the residency production finally began again from April 2023 as "ARKO2023."

She reportedly also felt anxious that this residency production might fall through.

When asked about her feelings over the three years of postponement, and about the studio during her creative activities, Ms. Tanihara spoke as follows.

"It felt like a long wait. At first I felt quite overawed, since it was, after all, Kojima Torajiro's studio. There were times I felt a bit intimidated, but now I'm painting freely and with ease."

Ms. Tanihara is known for her unique style of painting on a black velvet support, using oil paints and acrylic paints, as well as sequins and metal powder, to express distinctive imagery.

The largest of the works she tackled this time measures 2,275mm in height and 1,457mm in width.

It is quite a large-scale work.

She reportedly felt that now was the only time to paint her own version of "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter"; as she grew accustomed to her surroundings, the studio became a treasure trove of inspiration, and her desire grew to paint something that could only be expressed at Ohara—something she could paint only because she placed herself in this very space.

Tanihara makes it a rule in her creative work to create original stories.

From her location scouting, inspired by Ura, the ogre of the Momotaro legend, she built the story of the one-of-a-kind "Tanihara Natsuko's New Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" and depicted it across six works.

In the location scouting she conducted in 2020 and 2023, she researched using old houses, rocks, cliffs, and bamboo as keywords.

She was guided by staff of the Ohara Museum of Art to places she would never have visited on her own, and the first work in the story was conceived when she visited Iwakura Shrine in Kurashiki City.

We asked her about the impact that the location scouting at Iwakura Shrine and other sites around the prefecture had on her…

"Seeing countless giant rocks lined up, I thought I had to draw this, and so I drew it just as it was. The location scouting deepened the story within me. I was deeply inspired," she told us.

Tanihara often uses herself as the model.

To expand her imagination, she brought kimono and other items into her studio and carefully worked out the makeup and hairstyles, then painted based on that.

Spending intense, concentrated time

As her painting production entered its final stages, we asked Tanihara about her three months of creative activity and about the works themselves.

What was it like creating at the Muisonso studio?

At first it was dark and there was no electricity, so it was really scary.

But as time passed, I got used to the darkness, and being cut off from media was good, too. Having so much nature around me was also really good for my work.

I had more dialogue with the paintings, and I feel I was able to spend intense, concentrated time on them.

What is your enthusiasm for ARKO2023?

For me, this is the largest in scale, and not only in the number of works—they're all new pieces, so in a sense I consider it the most important exhibition of the past five or six years of my career as a painter.

During the exhibition period, I want to go to the Ohara Museum of Art again and again, engage in dialogue with the completed works, and carefully think about how I can grow as a painter by continuing to paint afterward.

About the works

The small insects, the patterns on the clothing, and small motifs within the paintings all have meaning, and hints foreshadowing the next scene are hidden within them.

I would love for everyone to find the stories and hints for what comes next that I've hidden in the paintings, like a treasure hunt, and I'd be happy if people shared their own interpretations of the story on Twitter and elsewhere.

Anticipation for the exhibition

Having observed her creative activity over the three months from April 2023, Yanagisawa Hideyuki, Chief Curator of the Ohara Museum of Art says of Tanihara's work and growth as a painter for ARKO2023: "It is a wonderful challenge that Tanihara herself took on a large-scale triptych, and one with a work carrying such a clear narrative at that. I think she conducted thorough research and thought it through carefully before beginning production." He has high expectations for her.

"Beauty and ugliness," "light and darkness," "an alluring charm coexisting within the uncanny"—Tanihara speaks with an easy, unguarded smile, in stark contrast to the haunting intensity of her works. The exhibition will be held from July 11 to September 24.

Please come and take a peek at the mysterious, wondrous world that Tanihara depicts.

Ohara Museum of Art ARKO (Artist in Residence Kurashiki, Ohara) 2023 Tanihara Natsuko Information

Name	Ohara Museum of Art ARKO (Artist in Residence Kurashiki, Ohara) 2023 Tanihara Natsuko
Date held	Exhibition period: Tuesday, July 11, 2023 - Sunday, September 24, 2023 Opening hours: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (last admission: 4:30 p.m.)
Location	Munakata Shiko Room, Craft Art Gallery, Ohara Museum of Art (1-1-15 Chuo, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture)
Participation fee (tax included)	Admission fee [General] Adults: 2,000 yen High school, junior high, and elementary school students: 500 yen *The works of ARKO2023 Tanihara Natsuko can be viewed with just the Ohara Museum of Art admission fee.
Website	ARKO Tanihara Natsuko

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