March 11 ? Sept. 12, 2010 - Fondation Cartier pour l'art ...

At a stand in the garden, visitors
can buy and savor Kitano’s waffles.
Customarily shaped like a fish,
here the traditional Japanese waffle
is transformed into a Buddha.
located on the lower level, this large,
bright stand was inspired by the
fairground booths seen in Asakusa,
a working-class neighborhood
where Kitano spent a great deal
of his childhood during the 1950s.
Reminiscent of a curiosity cabinet,
it is a trove of funfare phenomena.
Strange chimeras are caged behind
bars, while the “Beat Takeshi’s
real work,” like a sordid little secret,
hides behind the red drapes. Excerpts
from his TV shows, never previously
seen in France, are shown in an
off-beat setting.
Paintings, 2008-2009. The exhibition
also presents a large collection
of Beat Takeshi Kitano’s paintings,
presented here for the first time.
Despite his prodigious output, Beat
Takeshi Kitano considers himself
an amateur painter. For him, painting
is as much a writing implement
as it is an outlet. Figurative, even
narrative in style, the twenty-four
paintings, some of which were
produced for this exhibition, seem
to explode in colors and are
reminiscent of naïve art.
“Having split up in
prehistoric times,
creatures reunify in
the 21st century.”
Beat Takeshi Kitano
The Animal and Flower
Vases. While recovering
from the 1994 motorcycle
accident that almost
cost him his life, Beat Takeshi
Kitano created a series
of disturbing paintings
in 1996 that depicted
hybrid animal-flower
creatures. These works
accented several scenes
of his film Hana-bi.
The paintings are
displayed here, along
with a collection of
Venetian vases inspired
by the unsettling images
and which were produced
expressly for this project.
As an exclusive for the Fondation
Cartier, Beat Takeshi Kitano
has shot two short comedies.
This is Japan! is a surrealistic
compilation of picturesque images
and prejudices, in which he
humorously attacks clichés held
by westerners regarding Japan.
In Human Hanging Calligraphy,
Kitano films himself as he is
being manipulated to create
a giant calligraphy, echoing
his most recent film Achilles
and the Tortoise.
4
Modern Science Reveals The
Truth about Dinosaur Extinction:
“For example, the installation
that examines the extinction
of the dinosaurs. If you watch TV
programs on this subject,
for instance, on the Discovery
Channel, they try to give you
detailed scientific explanations
as to why the dinosaurs
disappeared. They usually say
that a meteorite hit the earth,
that the temperature of the planet
dropped, and this caused the
dinosaurs to die out. But I offer
a different, comic version.
Those dinosaurs had short arms,
which probably made it hard
for them to wipe their behinds.
And so the hypothesis is
that their disappearance was
due to the lack of hygiene in
their environment!”
Beat Takeshi Kitano
Two workshops have been erected,
inviting the visitor to participate
in the exhibition. In one interactive
installation, everyone can take
part and create drawings inspired
by soundtracks that evoke
a particular landscape, personality
or musical excerpts. Displayed side
by side, these drawings will form
a montage of the diversity of human
imagination. On the lower level,
there is a dinosaur painting workshop
where the visitor can imagine the
original colors of these now extinct
creatures. using a paint gun, the
lucky lottery winners (a small sticker
on your entry ticket indicates whether
you’ve won) get to color the dinosaurs
however inspiration may lead.