Aki Kuroda - Exhibition at the Imperial City - China

Tensions between the two countries are not the artists' concern. For Zhao Shulin, the exhibition's curator, the invitation of Japanese painter Aki Kuroda to the museum stemmed from a simple crush during his last exhibition in Beijing in November.

Born in Japan, Aki Kuroda has lived in France since 1970. Famous for his silhouettes and monochrome backgrounds, the painter is also renowned for his collective projects such as the Cosmogarden, the first issue of which was presented at the Manufacture des Œillets in Ivry in 1997.

Painting, architecture, sculpture or video, the Cosmogarden is a stroll where other artists and other artistic expressions are invited to participate. "I like the give-and-take," explains Aki Kuroda. "The idea of the Cosmogarden is to create a garden, like a city, that is, a garden whose edges you don't see and of which you don't have an overall view, unlike Zen gardens. But when you walk through it, you feel the shape and style of the garden; it's not programmed or rational."

In Beijing, the artist took care to indicate on the poster that it was a solo exhibition. However, his work is always on the lookout for this same conception of painting. Around sixty works, from the collection of the famous French Maeght Gallery, are on display.

"It is often said that pictorial art is dead and that everything has been done. If I take architecture, which is undoubtedly the icon of our time, it sometimes happens that constructions are splendid but perfectly inhuman. One cannot live inside. A painting can then contrast with a white or concrete wall and become like an airlock, a door open to the imagination, which goes beyond the programmed, rational, and understandable side of the architectural project. This door, it seems to me, is the definition of painting."

"Of course, I have a connection with China. Like all Japanese and Chinese people, our histories are intertwined. The characters, in particular, are of Chinese origin. But I have never exhibited in showcases like archeology museums. This amuses me because I have never seen my painting in such a space; it puts distance and gives me a certain objectivity towards it."

This surprise reflects what the painter perceived of Chinese aesthetics, which he subtly describes as baroque.

"This city is gigantic. Faced with the grandeur of the towers, Western or Japanese criteria do not work. Even now, I still haven't understood," adds Aki Kuroda. "But I'm not surprised that Chinese painting is figurative and not abstract for the most part. Faced with the universe of buildings, the lines, the mathematical side, it is the intimate, the interiority that resists."