Past Resident
Tadasuke Jinno
Tadasuke Jinno is a New York-based visual artist from Japan whose practice includes painting, sculpture, and installation with various materials. The colors, shapes, materials, and composition of Tadasuke’s work form a visual illusion, bodily sensation, or new perception, commonly themed around the idea of a “border.” The goal of the work is to open the entrance or exit connecting reality and unreality by giving the viewer a feeling that they have never experienced.
Tadsuke was an artist-in-residence in 2014 at NARS Foundation in Brooklyn, in 2017 at GlogauAIR in Berlin, Germany, and Zaratan AIR in Lisbon, Portugal, and in 2019 at ChaNorth Artist International Artists-in-Residency Program in New York. His work has been selected for the permanent collection of The Art Students League of NY.
“Art for me is a challenge of changing sense of values and how to see a point of view which you’ve had.”
Q&A with Tadasuke Jinno (from Crosstown Arts newsletter, April 30, 2020)
Spring 2020 Crosstown Arts resident artist Tadasuke Jinno came to Memphis from New York in February for a three-month residency. Six weeks into the residency, everything changed due to COVID-19. Tadasuke opted to stay in Memphis through the end of April and has continued to produce work in his sculpture studio at Crosstown Concourse. Crosstown Arts registrar Jesse Butcher caught up with Tadasuke to talk about his installations, inspiration, and spiritual rituals.
Tadasuke is a New York-based visual artist from Japan whose practice includes painting, sculpture, and installation with various materials. The colors, shapes, materials, and composition of Tadasuke’s work form a visual illusion, bodily sensation, or new perception commonly themed around the idea of a “border.” The goal of the work is to open the entrance or exit connecting reality and unreality by giving the viewer a feeling that they have never experienced.
Jesse Butcher: I am interested in the role the geometric plays within your practice. Does that come from your background in graphic design?
Tadasuke: I think graphic design had an influence on me when I started my art career. But lately, I’ve been prioritizing what I want to express, a little bit of a strange world. I’m not particularly influenced by graphic design.
Jesse: One aspect of your practice is creating immersive installations. How do you begin this process? Have specific materials inspired the work? In some cases (beds, resting areas, etc.), you seem to invite the viewer to participate. Can you address the interaction of the audience once the work has left your studio?
Tadasuke: I started working on these installations for two reasons. The first is that, at one point, I was making paintings that looked differently at different angles and distances from the viewer. As an extension of this idea, I created this installation out of a desire to control the audience’s perspective. Another reason is the influence from color field painting. I wanted to further specialize in that feeling of being surrounded by color.
I am very interested in the relationship between artwork and viewers. In my opinion, art becomes art only when it is recognized as art by others, not by the artist himself. So, for me, the most ideal thing is for the viewer to become one with the work. And even after that, I want the viewers to feel that my work is art.
Jesse: What has been inspiring to you lately?
Tadasuke: The shrines in Japan have been a particular inspiration for me lately. I’m interested in the act of diving through the gate, called the torii, at the entrance to the shrine. I didn’t realize it when I lived in Japan, but most Japanese people feel a sense of awe when they pass through the torii of a shrine, even if they’re not religious. I feel it is similar to the feeling of entering an unrealistic art world. I would like to study this spiritual ritual. I believe it’s possible to be influenced by all sorts of things, whether I like or dislike them.
Jesse: Spiritual rituals sound like an interesting place to reflect and inspire your work. Do you have any advice you would like to impart to other artists? What’s the best piece of advice you have received?
Tadasuke: I know how difficult it is for artists to continue their art activities. In particular, the current environment surrounding COVID-19 is very difficult for artists. But please make an environment where you can devote as much time as possible to your art activity. I think it’s important to keep going.
The best advice I’ve ever received was from a teacher at the Art Students League of New York, who told me that there is no such thing as perfection in this world. At the time, I may have been trying too hard to achieve perfection.
Thank you so much for speaking with me, Tadasuke. Crosstown Arts looks forward to following your work.
