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Ken Matsubara (Japanese, born 1948), Chaos, 1983 (detail), two six-panel folding screens (diptych), ink and color on paper, The Mary Griggs Burke Endowment Fund established by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation and gift of funds from Nivin MacMillan 2022.49a,b ©️ Ken Matsubara
Ken Matsubara (Japanese, born 1948), Chaos, 1983 (detail), two six-panel folding screens (diptych), ink and color on paper, The Mary Griggs Burke Endowment Fund established by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation and gift of funds from Nivin MacMillan 2022.49a,b ©️ Ken Matsubara

Kōyama Yasuhisa (Japanese, born 1936), Wind, 2007–13, Shigaraki ware; stoneware with natural ash glaze, Lent by Tamara and Michael Root, L2023.30.61
Kōyama Yasuhisa (Japanese, born 1936), Wind, 2007–13, Shigaraki ware; stoneware with natural ash glaze, Lent by Tamara and Michael Root, L2023.30.61
Chaos: Ken Matsubara’s Buddhist Masterwork
September 2, 2023–March 10, 2024
Bell Family Decorative Arts Court (Gallery 333)
Two paintings, 600 years apart: the 14th century Taima Mandala and the 20th century Chaos by Ken Matsubara. Despite the chronological distance between them, these two pieces are connected by Buddhist threads. In this installation, accompanied by the echoes of singing bowls, the visitor acts as the bridge between Matsubara’s depiction of human struggle and the Taima Mandala’s immaculate Pure Land. Take a moment to sit, be still, and focus on being with art.
Ken Matsubara was born in Toyama prefecture, Japan, in 1948. Growing up in a relative’s temple, he admired and copied traditional Buddhist artworks displayed throughout the complex. In his late twenties, he apprenticed with Sankо̄ Inoue, a renowned Japanese painter of Western abstraction. Chaos (1983) marked a moment of synthesis and departure. He merged his knowledge of Buddhist concepts with his teacher’s abstraction to create a new form of representation, his own abstraction of space and sound.
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The Root Collection: Living with Japanese Ceramics
August 19, 2023 - February 18, 2024
Galleries 251, 252, 253
Tamara and Michael Root have created one of the largest, most diverse collections in the Twin Cities of studio ceramics from the 20th and 21st centuries. This exhibition in the Japanese galleries celebrates their generous donation and presents a selection of tea bowls and other tea ware, standing and hanging vases, as well as sculpture. The Roots did not venture into Japanese ceramics until 2001, when they acquired the first of almost 50 tea bowls. The collection eventually encompassed 168 works, dominated by functional ware. While their focus remained strongly on contemporary works, the Roots also added a number from the mid-20th century, including pieces by the Mingei (folk-craft) artists Hamada Shōji, Kitaōji Rosanjin, and Arakawa Toyozō.
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