Matsumoto draws on Estonian winter for Tartu exhibition

Japanese artist Narihiro Matsumoto has brought a solo exhibition to the Miga art space in Tartu’s Mikro-Veneetsia, with a nine-photograph series inspired by a cold and dim winter spent near Lake Peipus, ERR reported.

The series was created in Japan but is being shown to the public for the first time in Estonia. Matsumoto spent two months experiencing the Estonian winter, including walking on the frozen lake, temperatures of around 20 degrees below zero, burst pipes and landscapes buried under snow.

“The greatest experience was being able to walk on Lake Peipus. The lake was frozen and it was possible to move across it. You cannot have such an experience in Japan, perhaps in some other country. But the fact that I happened to be there at that particular time and in those circumstances, and was able to see that view, is something I could experience only on Lake Peipus,” Matsumoto said.

He added that winter’s whiteness also concealed many things beneath the snow.

Gallery owner Raul Oreškin said Matsumoto had carried the feeling of winter’s crispness, cold and dimness with him before beginning the work.

“You can see a certain darkness and crispness here, and, as he himself says, roughness. You may not find Lake Peipus in the symbols, but the atmosphere does convey the Estonian winter,” Oreškin said.

The photographs were not produced in the usual way. Matsumoto began each work with drawings, then built physical objects and took them to the seaside. There, he created what amounted to a stage on which to photograph the objects.

“The construction process can last even a week, and then he waits for the right light and weather conditions, takes one shot, and that shot is what you see on these walls,” Oreškin said.

Although the works may appear to have been created digitally, he said all the objects were physically made and Matsumoto did not add anything to the images later on a computer.

Matsumoto’s solo exhibition is open at the Miga art space until October 25.