WHAT
The exhibition is the artist’s fifth show with the gallery, but the first since his passing in November 2018. Known as a pioneer in modern Kobe performance art, he significantly influenced Japan’s contemporary art scene and often worked in collaboration with friends, which led to an impressive body of performative work. He was also a part of the Gutai Art Association and remained true to the avant-garde spirit even after the group disbanded in 1972. His particular practice focused on treasuring the unrepeatable nature of a moment in a way where he tried to freeze moments in time. Each moment is unique and cannot be reproduced or repeated; and thus he constantly changed his methods, using variable materials such as scraps of metal, wood, junk, found objects, to name a few. The evolution of Horio’s art is presented in this retrospective and showcases all he has contributed to the Japanese and international contemporary art scene.

WHY
Inspired by the Japanese idiom, ‘ichi-go, ichi-e’, which refers to the uniqueness of each moment, the artist is known for treasuring the unrepeatable nature of time by capturing or freezing these moments. The exhibition demonstrates the consistency of his practice through early works from his participation at the Gutai group, later works on paper, ‘paint placements’ that were created at various performances, and finally through his monotype prints.