- CONDITION
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Good condition.
Signed, titled, and dated in the lower center.
The verso is not examined since it is affixed to the mat with the double-sided tape.
- DESCRIPTION
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Since making a spectacular debut at the beginning of the 1980s, Ohtake Shinro (1955 - ) has been producing multi-layered collages, noise music, and videos as well as other media works. Ohtake took a temporary leave of absence from university and went to work unpaid on a ranch in Hokkaido. After working, Ohtake went around various places, sketching and taking photographs. It can be said that the uniqueness of Ohtake’s work lies in the fact that it obeys no authority and creates art from ordinary elements of everyday life.
In the middle of the summer of 1993, Ohtake took a ferry from the port of Algeciras in southern Spain to Morocco, headed for the city of Tangier in the northern part of the country. Over the course of 11 days, Ohtake carried around colored pencils, a sketchbook, and a camera to record the people, things, and moments in each city whilst traveling south through Asira to Fez and Marrakech. On that journey, Ohtake created over 200 sketches; this transformed a passion for drawing into Ohtake’s main artistic production. After returning to Japan in 1994, Ohtake published an illustrated book titled “Man of Kasbah” that featured essays and images from this journey. The book was filled with some of the many sketches produced on the 1993 trip, such as flags fluttering in the wind and authoritative portraits of the cities. One by one, each image captured the hustle and bustle of Morocco that had been imprinted on Ohtake’s retinas.
- PROVENANCE
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Base Gallery, Tokyo