Rei Naito: The Closer You Look, The More Fascinating It Becomes

Of all the art museums I've visited, the one I'll never forget is the Teshima. It's beautiful and blends in with nature on Teshima Island. I still remember the feeling of something being awakened within me. This time I visited an exhibition by Rei Naito in Tokyo National Museum, the artist who created the Teshima Art Museum.
 
The theme of the exhibition is “Is existence on Earth a blessing in itself?”, and you tour three separate exhibition spaces within the museum. Between each venue, you pass through the permanent exhibitions of the museum and can appreciate Buddhist statues and ukiyo-e woodblock prints. While you feel the history from the permanent collections, when you return to Naito’s venue again, you find yourself in the here and now, living with her contemporary artwork. Her works tell us everything is constantly changing, and we understand that “being here” is very natural in that flow. Sometimes when we seek meaning in our lives, her works tell us it doesn’t matter because everything is always changing: the environment, nature, or people’s feelings and ideas.
 
Some of her works are tiny. You have to pay close attention to them so as not to miss them. Accordingly, I changed my position and looked at the works carefully, crouched down, or looked up at them. When I changed my angle, I got a new perspective and discovered new things even in the same works.
 
After the exhibition, I felt a change in my life. The air around me became slower, and I started to see things more clearly. For example, I started to notice things I hadn't noticed before, like a cute key ring on a person’s backpack in front of me on the subway or some pleasant words on a price label at a local supermarket. I started to see things I hadn't noticed before. They pleased me and made me smile. I can't explain exactly how it works, but I thought that being moved by such small things might be the answer to the question “Is existence on Earth a blessing in itself?” Which means if you look for the details, you'll find life more of a blessing. Rei Naito’s exhibition gave me that sense and feeling.