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Ken Matsubara
New Art Collection

Ken Matsubara, Tokyo, 1949.

Ken Matsubara graduated from Musashino Art University in Tokyo in 1974. His work often examines our understanding of memory. Matsubara lives and works in Tokyo.

Using photos, movies, objects and collages, Matsubara’s work addresses memories and histories to which we can all relate, regardless of our backgrounds, statuses or age. He incorporates photographs, videos, object installations, and collages to bring forth the past and to converse with future generations. The artist sees human consciousness as recollections of the same ancient knowledge that transcends the individual, passed down through generations and across peoples, at a microcosmic level. By recollecting shared memories, Matsubara believes that we can overcome individuality.

His work is part of several international collections as the Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport, California, Maison du Livre de L' image et du Son, La Bibliotheque de Villeurbanne, Lyon, Bayly Art Museum, Virginia, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, Bell Atlantic Corpolation, New York, Readers Digest, New York, Goldman Sachs Corporation, New York, Nippon Polalroid "Polaroid Corpolation of Japan", Tokyo, International Polaroid Collection, Cambrige, Massachusetts, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Deutsche Bank Collection / Bulgari Collection, New York, among others.

Work at the collection: Moon Bowl

Ken Matsubara

Moon Bowl, 2016.

Moon Bowl

Just as hands scooping water, the bowl serves as if a vessel of acceptance, where images sink to the depths of the basin as memories. As the water reflects the moon’s ever-shifting presence, one comes to embrace its fragile state as the beauty of impermanence and discover its coming hopes as restoration. The Bodhisattva statue, plaster figurine, glass bottle, bird’s corpse all shatter for means to restore once again in a continuous state of repetition.

Houjyoki:
The flowing river never stops and yet the water never stays the same. Foam floats upon the pools, scattering, re-forming, never lingering long. So it is with man and all his dwelling places here on earth.

Ken Matsubara
Ken Matsubara

Ken Matsubara

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