Local Culture

Lunar Reflections

Exhibit continues with New Year’s celebration

Dec 16, 2009

Lunar Reflections

 

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When Taro Shinoda was a child, he used to stare at the moon sending it messages for his mother halfway around the world. During his time spent in residency in Boston in 2007, he again returned to the moon, spending time in the Gardner Museum Gardens, observing the moon and its effect of the world at large. These are the inspirations for Taro Shinoda: Lunar Reflections, on exhibition now through January 31, 2010 at the Isabella Gardner Museum.

Shinoda is a self-taught artist whose broad base of knowledge (horticulture, architecture, natural sciences, engineering) is the basis for his varied mediums. His work is conceptual, generally referring to the themes of adaptation, desire and meditation, with a particular emphasis on the Japanese garden as a theme. All of these elements are present in Lunar Reflections, a multi-media presentation that takes visitors on a journey to the moon—or rather, Shinoda’s interpretation of the moon.

Included in the exhibit is a sound installation and film project that features shots from Tokyo, Istanbul and Limerick, in addition to Boston. For the project, Shinoda created an astronomical telescope out of corrugated cardboard and attached a video camera to it. He used the footage he collected to create a film that shows the moon and these very different cityscapes as seen from around the world. Shinoda explains, “The first step toward having a sense of us all sharing this planet together…I look at the moon and, a few hours later, you look at it in some different country&hellipobserving the way the moon travels allows me to make an image of the whole world.”

The Gardner will be celebrating the New Year in style as they feature Lunar Reflections in a night that includes, cocktails, Japanese appetizers and a performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. Lunar Reflections: A Magical New Year’s Eve will take place December 31, 2009 from 6–9:30 p.m.

For more information on these events or to purchase tickets, please visit www.gardnermuseum.org or call the box office at 617-278-5156.