Ichiro Hariu
The first private exhibition of Reinhardt Sｿbye's paintings was held four years ago in the Toho Gallery. The artist, a Norwegian, seeking to find a gallery willing to exhibit his art, sent a letter and some photographs of his work to us. We accepted his letter request and since then, every year, he has sent his work to us to exhibit. Neither the owner of Toho Gallery nor I have ever met him. Whenever his work is shown there are not a few visitors from all over Japan who purposely come to see his art. This has resulted in a steady spread of interest and excitement in his work growing into a like-minded solidarity of consciousness among his followers. It is my first experience in many years to see such painting that is able to deeply express the nature of society and human beings.
In 1997 Toho Gallery plans to have Sｿbye exhibitions twice in which children and dolls will be his art motifs. In the autumn of 1995 I found two of his painted dolls among photographs of his art created for his next exhibition. I immediately understood that the dolls are his allegory for modern civilization. I wrote a letter to him expressing my apprehension from my memories of some Japanese Western artists who in their later life concentrated on painting dolls because they could not endure the pursuit of human figure painting. Sｿbye might have been a little disappointed by my comment and so he responded in his letters via facsimile that his doll paintings are favored in Norway as his new repertoire. Furthermore, his art work has been purchased by museums, and he was awarded a great prize for his work. In addition, he sent me some more photographs of his new doll paintings. Last summer, by his review of the photographs, the owner of Toho Gallery suggested to me that we should exhibit his doll paintings separately from his other art work in 1997.
Further, by looking at these photographs my apprehensions were swept away. His dolls are all symbolic and depict faces of present day children suffering from abuse and neglect, and from bullying, prostitution, HIV, and other diseases and afflictions of civilization. These are the responsibility of adults who have obeyed the principle of the supremacy of the development of economic growth to the detriment of children's safety and welfare. Even though children of tender age suffer from these contradictions in civilized society, still in such sufferings they reflect the sacredness of God, the angels, and Buddah in their lovely faces and fragile bodies. Thus, though adults know the facts, they avoid them, pretending not to notice or recognize these facts. It is important to see straight, memorize, think, and record all the facts. This is why Sｿbye titled the exhibition "amnesia."
When I saw Sｿbye's new work I imagined "modern history as viewed through children's eyes." In the silence of children who suffered or died as sacrifices to wars in Bosnia, Hercegovina, Rwanda, and other countries, this most fundamental and clear accusation against the modern world is hidden. We also may not be able to endure the accusations of the children of Iranians who came to Japan to work, or those displaced from Vietnam. If such modern diseases are concentrated on these children, artists should willingly relate to these diseases to find ways for treatment and relief. Sｿbye tries to penetrate into the children's inner darkness through his work depicting a face or portrait emerging like a spirit from a dark background. As a result, his work suggests that not only individuals but the whole of society must revolt, based on the preservation of human dignity, from the supremacy of money. The owner of Toho Gallery murmured that having seen such meaningful work we must create a fine catalog even though it will be costly. The owner's words are proof of the recognition of how deep Sｿbye's work impresses.