The UP Vargas Museum, together with Arts Support Kansai, POLA Art Foundation, and the Japan Foundation Manila, presents Ryotaro Fuyuki’s solo exhibition Kayuminonai (the deliberate erasure of something unnatural.)
The exhibition considers objects as stimuli for unnatural conditions that have been deliberately erased, what Fuyuki distinguishes as concealed ideologies pervading our daily lives. The artist considers the tensions that live inside objects as a random and precipitous ‘itch,’ an uncomfortable sensation that feeds a desire for discovery and revelation.
Collecting objects is at the core of constructing history, which Fuyuki reconsiders through Jorge Vargas’s efforts in assembling his Filipiniana collection. The museum, as a social institution, assembles historical and political value. Its role is pivotal to preserving and activating objects to become part of the structure the artist identifies as a constructed system where beliefs and ideals are shaped. Thus, it is the task of the contemporary museum and the artist who engages its collections to prompt these objects as timely instructions, for while seeming inert, they are lively vessels of thought.
Kayuminonai (the deliberate erasure of something unnatural) will be on view at the 1/F Galleries of the UP Vargas Museum starting 11 July 2024. Write to vargasmuseum@up.edu.ph for details and related information. The museum is located inside the University of the Philippines Diliman Campus and is open from Tuesdays to Saturdays except holidays, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. For updates on events, exhibitions, and advisories check our socials on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter @upvargasmuseum.
About the artist
Ryotaro Fuyuki (b. 1984) is a visual artist born and raised in Toyama, Japan. He received his Master’s Degree in Sculpture from the Kyoto University of Art in 2010 and was a research student for Global Art Practice at the Graduate School of Fine Arts at the Tokyo University of the Arts in 2024. Fuyuki’s current practice considers objects as material to navigate the possibilities of sculpture and situation. He has been doing research-based projects that consider the relationships between Japan and the Philippines. Some of his recently concluded projects include a solo exhibition at the Punt WG Netherlands in 2023 and group exhibitions at the SAI Gallery in Osaka and the Sugosu Center (Kyoto) in 2021. Fuyuki was a recipient of the Overseas Research Grant (New York) from the Yoshino Gypsum Art Foundation in 2017 and the Overseas Study Program for Upcoming Artists from the Japan Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2023.
About the museum
The University of the Philippines Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center is a center for Philippine art and culture with the core thrusts of research, curation, and education. The Museum is home to the collections of art, books, archives, memorabilia, coins, and stamps of Jorge B. Vargas, a significant political figure in the twentieth-century Philippines and an alumnus of the University of the Philippines An avid collector with a vision of sharing Philippine art with future generations, Mr. Vargas donated the holdings he acquired across his illustrious career in public service, sports, and scouting to his alma mater in 1978. Since it opened its doors to the public in 1987, the institution has been visited by students, researchers, scholars, and the public. The Museum has galleries for permanent as well as temporary exhibitions. The galleries are also spaces for educational events such as workshops, lectures, symposia, walkthroughs, and talks by artists and curators. The library accommodates researchers, scholars, students, and artists; it also hosts small exhibitions within its spaces.
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