Reference:

Hanseung, Ryu. 2018. "Body as Media" In Awakenings: Art in Society in Asia 1960s-1990s, exhibition catalogue, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (10 Oct-24 Dec. 2018), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary, Korea (2019), National gallery Singapore (2019).  

"A personal perspective from Keiji Uematsu," In Inside / Out: Jiro Takamatsu and Keiji Uematsu in Conversation, Royal Society of Sculptors London (30Sept -29 Nov. 2019).

Keiji Uematsu

Born in 1947 in Hyogo Prefecture, Keiji Uematsu graduated from the department of Fine Arts, Kobe University in 1969 and moved to Germany in 1975. Since 1986 he has resided and worked in both Minoo city, Japan, and Düsseldorf, Germany. Uematsu has exhibited works illustrating relationships between the body and objects, and has pursued strategies to render visible, unseen forces, such as gravity and magnetism, and reveal the underlying structure. The use of natural materials such as wood, stone, fabric, and metal, as well as the fact that his activities were contemporaneous to the prolific artists associated with the movement Mono-ha, give a false notion that his work is also connected to the movement. Instead of attention to the inherent state of natural and industrial materials, and their relation to the environmental space surrounding them, Uematsu’s focus is on expose the structures and relationships of the physical world that may not be visible. Since the 1970s, Uematsu began making film and video works. There were a number of fine artists at the time who took the moving image to create conceptual works. This was not a mere documentation of their performances but a strategy to visualize their practice and process. Within this movement, Uematsu produced important works and presented in the annual fine artists’ moving image exhibition in Tokyo, Exhibition of Contemporary Plastic Art: Expression in Film, as well as broadcast a collaborative work, Image of Image—Seeing with artist Tatsuo Kawaguchi and Saburo Murakami at NHK Kobe.

Major solo exhibitions include Relation of Matters (Galerie 16, Kyoto, 1974), Keiji Uematsu: Skulptur Foto Video Film (Moderna Museet Stockholm, 1976-77), Series, Today’s Artist, Installation and Photo (Osaka Contemporary Art Center, 1981), Keiji Uematsu: eyes under physical consideration - photographs, videos and films 1972-2003 (Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Fukuoka, 2003), and Keiji Uematsu: The Garden of Time (Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City, Hyogo, 2006). Major group exhibitions include Photography in Contemporary Art (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and elsewhere, 1983-84), the 43rd Venice Biennale, Japan Pavilion (1988), and Performing for the Camera (Tate Modern, London, 2016).

23.5｜1970, 4:20 min, Single 8mm, color, silent
First screening: Third Gendai no zōkei “Film zōkei ‘70”, Tokyo Shinbun Hall, 1970.
Uematsu’s first film work, a woman’s moving feet are continuously filmed. Created with attention to the limited time held in a 8mm film, the work is comprised of several cut-up segments that are shuffled and spliced. Uematsu was interested in interchanging the ‘previous time’ and ‘current time.’ He took interest in moving image by watching films such as Andy Warhol’s Kiss (1963), Empire (1964), and Nobuhiko Ōbayashi’s Emotion (1966).

23.5｜1970, 3:50 min, 16mm, b&w, silent
Recently released. First screening: Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, 2021.
Based on the same material that the colored version of 23.5 is made of, the black and white version is made out of different scenes from the same reel, and does not include cutting and splicing. Uematsu was interested in seeing the difference between color and black & white. The title, 23.5 is based on the shoe size of the woman.

Compression—Relation of Matters / 圧・態―構造の関係性｜1971, 14:39 min, 8mm, b&w, sound
First screening: Fourth gendai no zōkei “Eizō hyōgen ‘71” Gendai bijyutsu 17-nin no shikō, Tokyo Shinbun Hall, 1971
Using a machine press available at the technical high school where Uematsu was employed, pressurized air, rock, clay, pumpkin, ice, and lightbulb (as representative of light). The duration of the pressing is the same for all materials but depending on the object the phenomena varies. Uematsu, who was working on a 3-D work titled Compression—Pressure around that time, was interested seeing how expressing pressure using the film medium would turn out.

Earth Point Project—Mirror｜1972, 9:40 min, 8mm, color, silent
First screening: Fifth gendai no zōkei “Eizo hyōgen ‘72” —-mono, ba, jikan, kūkan—-Equivalent Cinema, Kyoto City Museum, 1972
A work made for the Fifth gendai no zōkei exhibition. In all scenes—the side walk, street, sky seen from space between buildings, trees, pier—the camera zooms out, and eventually reveals that the subject is a virtual image reflected in a mirror. What the viewer sees is the scene set behind the camera. In the exhibition, the mirror used in the shoot was placed on a wall and the projection size was adjusted to match the mirror’s size in the film. Writes Uematsu: “At the exhibition, the virtual image shown in the mirror (the other world reflected in the mirror) cannot be seen due to the projection’s light being reflected. The two virtual images reflect one another and transforms into something that cannot be seen. I wanted to see the relationship between virtual and real images.” Around this time, Uematsu saw Michelangelo Antonioni,'s L'eclisse: A Vigilance of Desire (1967), and remembers the experience as something that connected to his own work.

Mirror Project―White｜1973, 6:00 min, 8mm, color (lost) / 2020 recreated, 1:13 min, video, b&w, silent
First screening: Kyoto Biennale ‘73—Shūdan ni yoru bijyutsu, Kyoto City Museum, 1973
2020 version first screening: Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, 2021.
Uematsu who is holding the camera is seen in the shot, which is painted over and then wiped away. As written in the mirror, we realize that Uematsu’s image is a virtual image shown through a mirror’s reflection. In the exhibition, the mirror used in the shoot was painted white and hung on the wall. The projected image is shown on the white surface, without reflecting the image back.

Mirror Project―Back｜1973, 6:00 min, 8mm, color

Light On―Light Off｜1973, 6:00 min, 8mm, color

Wave Motion / 波動態｜1973, 6:00 min, 8mm, color

Image of Image—Seeing / 映像の映像―見ること｜1973, 15:50 min, video, b&w, sound
with Tatsuo Kawaguchi, Saburo Muraoka, and Keiji Uematsu
First presentation: NHK Kobe, “'Hyōgo no wadai",” 1973
A collaborative piece by artists Saburo muraoka, Tatuo Kawaguchi, and Keiji Uematsu, this work was broadcast during the television program “Hyōgo no wadai” by Kobe NHK (Nippon Broadcasting Corporation). Intended for television broadcast, the piece questions the meaning of the act of watching television.

Articulation / 分節態―作為｜1974 / 1975, 15:16 min, 8mm, color, silent (lost)
First screening: Seventh gendai no zōkei “Eizō no hyōgen ‘74” Film, Cinema, Video, Art Core Gallery Kyoto, 1974
This work is composed of 6 scenes. Uematsu was interested in seeing what happens to objects and situations in various actions. An exploration of the shift of perspectives prompted by actions.

Work—Seeing｜1975, 2:55 min, video, color, silent
First screening: “Video, aratana sekai—sono media no kanōsei” O Art Museum, 1992.
Around the time Uematsu was making a photo work titled Mirukoto—fūkei (1974) Uematsu was interested in touching an object with shadow. This work is an expression of that exercise on video.

Drawing—Black｜1975, 17:25 min, video, color, silent
First screening: “Video, aratana sekai—sono media no kanōsei” O Art Museum, 1992.
A work that continuously colors an image black.

Drawing—Black｜1976, 2:32 min, video, color, silent
First screening: Solo exhibition, “Sculpture, photography, video, film” Moderna Museet, 1976
This work was made for the exhibition at Moderna Museet, based on the same concept as the longer version of the work with same title.

Measuring—Corner｜1976, 11:40 min, open reel video, color, sound
First screening: Solo exhibition, “Sculpture, photography, video, film” Moderna Museet, 1976
Planning to present Drawing—Black and Work—Seeing overseas and brought the tapes over, but the tape format was not compatible for playback there. As a quick replacement, this work was made. It was around the time Uematsu was making photography works using his body to measure.

Action, Stone—Nail—String—Light｜1976, 14:30 min, open reel video, color, sound
First screening: Solo exhibition, “Sculpture, photography, video, film” Moderna Museet, 1976
Like Measuring—Corner, this work was also made in Stockholm.

Degree—Light Performance for Heidelberg｜1981, 3:51 min, slides, color, sound
First screening: “Performance Festival” Heidelberg Art Association, 1981
A performance swinging around a lightbulb was captured onto slide photograph which was then projected in sequence.

Fountain—Dresden｜2014, video, color, sound
First screening: Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, 2021.
A work made when Uematsu visited Dresden.