Events

Gold Leaf Kyoto

March 12-28, 2009

Gold Leaf Kyoto

The ancient cap­i­tal of Kyoto is a trea­sure trove of arts and arti­sanry, but the integrity of these works is threat­ened by the pas­sage of time. Gold Leaf Kyoto is address­ing the threat by com­bin­ing advanced image pro­cess­ing tech­nolo­gies with craft tra­di­tions passed down from over the gen­er­a­tions. Pre­serv­ing Japan’s cul­tural her­itage while cre­at­ing new beauty for our times is the essence of what Gold Leaf Kyoto does.

The awe inspir­ing beauty that was cre­ated over the past twelve cen­turies and is even now being prac­ticed in Kyoto is some­thing that it would like future gen­er­a­tions in Japan and more peo­ple over­seas to appreciate.

Gold Leaf Kyoto is cer­ti­fied by the Min­istry of Econ­omy, Trade and Indus­try as a “Busi­ness that Makes Use of Local Hand­i­craft Resources.”

Open­ing Recep­tion:
Thurs­day, March 12, 6–8 pm

Demon­stra­tion by Hiroto Rakusho:
March 12, 6–8 pm, March 13, 2–5 pm

Dia­logue with eter­nal mas­ter­pieces — recre­at­ing the energy

Hiroto Rakusho has used his tra­di­tional metal leaf skills to repro­duce many mas­ter­pieces, includ­ing National Trea­sures and Impor­tant Cul­tural Prop­er­ties. It typ­i­cally takes a few months to pro­duce one mas­ter­piece in all its sub­tle beauty. The process brings artists together across four hun­dred years of time and space.

The Mas­ter­pieces Archives Series recon­structs works and styles of great mas­ters in Kyoto with highly def­i­n­i­tion print­ing tech­niques and gold leaf pro­cess­ing tech­niques devel­oped by Hiroto Rakusho. It is an inno­v­a­tive new form of arti­sanry that revives mas­ter­works by retract­ing the foot­steps of tradition.

Orga­nized by:
GLK, Onishi Gallery

Spon­sored by:
Tokyo National Museum, Kyoto City, Kyoto Inter­na­tional Cul­ture Foun­da­tion, Spec­i­fied Non­profit Cor­po­ra­tion Kyoto Cul­ture Asso­ci­a­tion, The Insti­tute for Zen Stud­ies, Kenninji

Tokyo National Museum, Ken­ninji, and other con­cerned par­ties autho­rize the repro­duc­tion of the cul­tural assets through Kyoto Cul­ture Asso­ci­a­tion. Pro­ceeds are col­lected by GLK and pre­sented to Kyoto Cul­ture Asso­ci­a­tion. Kyoto Cul­ture Asso­ci­a­tion then dis­trib­utes all the pro­ceeds to the respec­tive hold­ers of the cul­tural assets.

For more infor­ma­tion please visit out web­site at: www.kyotointernational.com or www.onishigallery.com or con­tact Nana Onishi at info@onishigallery.com or at 212.695.8035.