The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Shinagawa used to be a family home, and it must have been a very nice one because it is a beautiful place, designed and built in the late 1930s in the Bauhaus style. The hardwood floors and comfortably high ceilings create a relaxing atmosphere in the one-time dining, sitting and bedrooms that now serve as galleries. In a couple of weeks, the Hara will celebrate its silver anniversary as a museum (1979-2004) and what better way to do so than with a show about families?
Patricia Piccinini's "We are Family" features five mixed-media sculptural installations and a video installation. But the "family" is certainly not the stuff of Norman Rockwell. No, what the Hara is hosting is a motley mob of mutant creatures that will appear revolting to some and captivating to others. Executed in acrylics, silicone and human hair, these creatures can only be described as "realistic" or "life-size" if one is flexible with the concept of representation.
"Leather Landscape" is a mis-en-scene featuring a colony of meerkat-like humanoids (or humanoid meerkats) perched atop a posh white leather mound. The creatures scan the room even as they are studied with keen interest by a toddler (she is another of Piccinini's creations, and seems normal but for the company she keeps). "Leather Landscape" stretches about 2 meters across and deep, and stands almost 3 meters tall.