Moderation Biased: Hiroshi Masuda, Kazuki Onohara and Taishi Shingu

Opening reception: Thursday, July 11, 6–8pm

The artist Tomokazu Matsuyama curated this exhibition with work by three of his current studio staff: Hiroshi Masuda, Kazuki Onohara, and Taishi Shingu. Discussions among all of them led to the idea that thematically drives this show: Moderation Biased.

There’s moderation in the sense of avoiding extremes (as in, say, the circumspect enjoyment of vices); there’s also moderation in the sense of moderating, or even mitigating, between opinions or standpoints, as in a debate. Applying either of these meanings to the concept of bias is a fascinating exercise. Can bias, in moderation, be otherwise known as preference or taste? Can bias, when moderated in the latter above sense of the word, be otherwise seen as simply a creative strategy?

It can feel risky, in this age that sees the prevailing sort of bias also be the most damaging (bias in the form of discriminatory preconceived notions, that is), to even play with the word. But let us not be beholden to semantic enclosures. Let’s openly, together, explore the idea of bias and how to, well, moderate it with moderation. It is through such vulnerable and bold self-exploration that breakthroughs in artmaking are evinced. This show, the work in it, and its curatorial strategies, are exemplary of such questing.