If you haven’t heard of Chu Enoki, don’t beat yourself up about it as the artist isn’t very well known outside his native Japan — despite having practised since the 1960s and influencing more well-known figures such as Takashi Murakami and Keiji Uematsu. Having said that, it’s still high time you caught up with what he’s been doing all these years, and White Rainbow in London W1 is the perfect place to do so as the gallery hosts a Chu Enoki retrospective, tellingly entitled Enoki Chu.
One of Chu’s most striking projects was Going to Hungary with HANGARI from 1977. Influenced by Marcel Duchamp shaving a star into his hair, Chu took the idea to an extreme. The artist used a play on the word “hangari” — “half-shaved” in Japanese — shaving the hair from the right side of his body and documenting his travels around the Eastern European country during which he attracted the attention of the police several times. He returned four years later with a depilated left side for a follow-up performance. White Rainbow is also host to previously unseen drawings and later-career sculptural works made from deactivated guns and cannons. Chu, born in 1944, began experimenting with metal as a young child in post-war Japan, collecting bullet casings to melt down and re-shape. The exhibition ends on 11 April.
Photo, Haruko Tomioka
Courtesy, White Rainbow
From the performance, Going to Hungary with HANGARI, 1977
Photo © Chu Enoki
Photo, Haruko Tomioka
Courtesy, White Rainbow
Photo, Haruko Tomioka
Courtesy, White Rainbow
From the performance, Going to Hungary with HANGARI, 1977
Photo © Chu Enoki
Photo, Haruko Tomioka
Courtesy, White Rainbow
