New York-based Tadaaki Kuwayama is currently being rediscovered internationally; especially in Asia and America. For the first time, Taubert Contemporary, together with the Mies van der Rohe Haus, is showing a comprehensive exhibition of the work of the artist, who was born in Japan in 1932. Tadaaki Kuwayama's works define the space with clear frames. Within these, an infinite vastness evolves. His minimalist works touch the spiritual-aesthetic senses and are thus closely related to the architectural concept of the Lemke House. The works on display are framing 60 years of his artistic work and illustrate an intensive examination of space as well as possible forms of limitation and expansion.
Tadaaki Kuwayama was born in Nagoya, Japan, and studied Japanese painting at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music until 1956. Inspired by American and European art, he emigrated to the United States in 1958, as did many other artists of his generation. In the years that followed, he combined the avant-garde influences of the American art scene with his traditional techniques. Kuwayama's monochrome, metallic-looking color surface painting has become his trademark and reflects his intense exploration of form, color, materiality, and space. Numerous group and solo exhibitions in Japan and the USA demonstrate Tadaaki Kuwayama's artistic relevance within the American and Asian art scene. In Germany, his works have only been shown in a few solo shows, such as at the Folkwang Museum Essen (1974), the Museum für Konkrete Kunst Ingolstadt (1997), or the Galerie Renate Bender Munich (1997/2002). Kuwayama's work can be found in public collections such as the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Folkwang Museum, Essen; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Tadaaki Kuwayama lives and works in New York with his wife, artist Rakuko Naito.
In addition to Tadaaki Kuwayama, Taubert Contemporary will show other artistic positions that thematize and interpret space, color, and limitations. Albert Weis will be a new addition to the gallery's program, bringing framing as a motif into focus in "no land" (2018). In a geometric arrangement, an aluminum band divides the wall and subdivides the surface into inside and outside. The work serves as a prelude to Weis's first solo exhibition at Taubert Contemporary in November.
For Australian artist Huseyin Sami, paint itself becomes a tactile material. In his "Painted Skins," the paint glaze becomes a dynamic surface. The structural nature of the works is reminiscent of material or skin. Yet they consist entirely of pure acrylic paint.
Geometric forms are the starting point in Joachim Grommek's works. Superimposed adhesive strips and foils create a three-dimensional body of color on the support, but these materials are merely illusionary and exclusively painted. The application of multiple layers of paint creates a hyper-realistic image that even imitates the optical characteristics of the underlying pressboard. Depending on the viewer's point of view, the impression alternates between flat painting and relief-like collage.
The juxtaposition of Tadaaki Kuwayama's works with three other strong artistic standpoints thus presents an intensive examination of the space immanent in the image and the staging of materiality.
– Dominik Olbrisch M.A., Art and Architecture Historian

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