About the Exhibit - Diagrams for the Imagination

Arakawa’s exhibit at Gagosian, Diagrams for the Imagination, was on view from March 5–April 13, 2019.

Even though these works were created between 1965 and 1984, they look as modern as ever. 

“This exhibition examines the period during which Arakawa worked in two dimensions, using paint, ink, graphite, and assemblage on canvas and paper to demonstrate what critic Lawrence Alloway called “the logic of meaning, the texture of meaning.” (source)

In his diagram paintings, “the painting becomes a catalyst for the viewer to independently construct an image...rather than receive its depiction directly from the painting.” (source)

“Arakawa constructed these systems of words and signs to both highlight and investigate the mechanics of human perception and knowledge.” (source)

“In his work, the image is often merely a stimulus, as the ultimate act of representation is displaced from the canvas, or object, to the imagination of the viewer, opening up a gap between the eye and the mind.” (source)

About the Artist - Arakawa

Arakawa is a Japanese artist and a founding member of the Japanese avant-garde collective Neo Dadaism Organizers.

He’s best known for his diagram paintings - “which combine words with highly schematic images suggestive of blueprints” (source). 

“Working often with Madeline Gins, his wife and collaborator, Arakawa turned his attention primarily to architecture after 1990, and, in 2010, he and Gins founded the Reversible Destiny Foundation.” (source).