Lion & Canvas

2008, Video installation, HD Video, 41:33 min., canvas 91x72cm, 72x60cm, 65x53cm, cooperated by Shonan Animal Production

The canvas is an iconic symbol of “art”. Yamashita and Kobayashi placed several canvases before a group of lions to whom the concept of art is unknown. At first the lions were afraid of the canvases, then confused, and finally, gradually, began to play with them. Should we consider the damaged canvases created by the lions as works of art? This piece was inspired by the work of Lucio Fontana.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2010 No Holds Barred, Art Amsterdam

2009 Neuen Museum Weimar, Germany

Takuro Someya Contemporary Art, Japan (solo)

2008 The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo