Dinca — contemporary art blog

Takeshi Murata: Get Your Ass to Mars

Takeshi Murata // Art and The Future // 2011 // Pigment print 32.5 x 50 inches // Edition of 3 with 2 APs

Takeshi Murata: Get Your Ass to Mars
April 29 – June 11, 2011
Ratio 3 (website)
1447 Stevenson Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, USA (map)

Ratio 3 is pleased to present Get Your Ass to Mars, new work by Takeshi Murata, on view from April 29 to June 11, 2011.

Takeshi Murata // Cyborg // 2011 // Pigment print // 28 x 42 inches // Edition of 3 with 2 APs

Takeshi Murata // Expanded Cinema // 2011 // Pigment print // 27.43 x 42 inches // Edition of 3 with 2 APs

Takeshi Murata // Golden Banana // 2011 // Pigment print // 30.45 x 42 inches // Edition of 3 with 2 APs

Takeshi Murata // Gumbone and Coke // 2011 // Pigment print // 23.2 x 32 inches // Edition of 3 with 2 APs

Takeshi Murata // Jazz Funeral // 2011 // Pigment print // 23.2 x 32 inches // Edition of 3 with 2 APs

Takeshi Murata // The Heretic // 2011 // Pigment print // 27.3 x 42 inches // edition of 3 with 2 APs

Takeshi Murata // Salon Kitty // 2011 // Pigment print // 27.3 x 42 inches // Edition of 3 with 2 APs

Takeshi Murata The Sisterhood // 2011 // Pigment print // 23.2 x 32 inches // Edition of 3 with 2 APs

Honestly, I guess I’m either credulous or oblivious with realist computer art these days: I was trusting these were photographs taken at the exhibit IRL, one of my initial reactions being, “Does Takeshi have to cut fresh oranges everyday for the ‘Art and Future’ piece?” (irl?) In real life or not, this is impressive, alluring work, and for those in San Francisco — or California — you should make yer merry way to SF and visit Ratio 3 for Takeshi Murata’s “Get Your Ass to Mars” exhibit, which shows April 29 – June 11, 2011. The exhibit gleans its title from a line of movie dialogue, spoken by Arnold Schwartzenager, in Total Recall (1990), directed by Paul Verhoeven, a personal favorite.

Fun fact: Total Recall is such a favorite that I acted a scene from it in my Acting for Camera course in film school. James Franco was in that class as well, for he is enrolled in septendecim schools simultaneously.

More on the exhibit:

For this exhibition, Murata will present a new series of prints using imagery rendered entirely on the computer. As in his previous work, Murata uses objects that already exist in the world, playing with their inherent narratives and associations. Murata’s still lifes are composed of arranged objects such as VHS cassette tapes, fruit, skulls, cracked iPhones, musical instruments, and beer bottles. He places these objects in a virtual space that appears eerily real, accentuating their strange relationships with each other as they rest in a timeless abstract space. With these prints, Murata moves in the opposite direction of time-based video, emphasizing stillness, tension and pictorial illusion.

The gallery will also present the West Coast debut of “I, Popeye,” which premiered in 2010 in the exhibition ‘Free’ at the New Museum, New York. By animating Popeye in three dimensions, Murata’s personal interpretation of Popeye casts a dark yet humorous shadow on the iconic cartoon character. As in his previous videos, Murata’s deft control of the image draws the viewer into moments of both wonder and confusion.

Takeshi Murata was born in 1974 in Chicago, IL. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1997 with a B.F.A. in Film/Video/Animation. He has had previous solo exhibitions at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC , gallery.sora, Tokyo and The Reliance (The Approach), London. His work has been included in exhibitions at the New Museum, New York, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy, Sikemma Jenkins & Co., New York, and Gladstone Gallery, New York. Murata currently lives and works in Saugerties, New York. This is his third solo exhibition with Ratio 3.

GALLERY HOURS: WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY; 11am – 6pm, and by appointment.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/IMAGES CONTACT:
МICНAЕL GUIDЕТТI @ 415.821.3371 / gallery@ratio3.org / http://www.ratio3.org