Williams College Museum of Art Presents
Kota Ezawa: Re-Animating History
February 10–June 10, 2007

Williamstown, MA–The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) presents Kota Ezawa: Re-Animating History.  The installation, on view in WCMA's Media Field Gallery, places three, single-channel animated works by Japanese-German artist Kota Ezawa side by side: The Simpson Verdict (2002); The Unbearable Lightness of Being (2005); and Lennon, Sontag, Beuys (2004).  The artist will discuss his work at the museum on Tuesday, May 8 at 4:00 pm. All are invited to attend.

Employing computer animation, Ezawa retells historical and current events, building a new narrative that relies upon visual cues, our cultural memory of these events, and the subtlety of human mannerisms, such as a smirk of the mouth or shift in the eyes. In The Simpson Verdict, Ezawa animates actual footage of the proceedings. This breaking down of the images forces the viewer to look more closely at the nuances of character and iterates the issues of race, celebrity, and police investigation that plagued the case. The Unbearable Lightness of Being captures two of the most defining moments in American history: the assassination of Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy. Finally, Lennon, Sontag, Beuys follows each of these artists as they state their political and social platforms.  Collectively viewed, these films raise questions concerning the real-time portrayal of events by camera and computer animation, as well as the way we remember and depict history.

By juxtaposing these seemingly disparate videos, politics and celebrity intermingle.  In the vein of Andy Warhol, whose work is also on view at the museum in the exhibition Warhola Becomes Warhol--Andy Warhol: Early Work, Ezawa reduces the aesthetic components and digests the event so that the viewer may reflect upon it.   His work comments on how we view history through an interpretative lens.

This exhibition was organized by guest curator Amanda Hellman, Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art, Class of 2008. Ezawa's work will also be on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through April 22 and MIT’s List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge through April 13.

About the artist
Kota Ezawa was born in Cologne, Germany in 1969.  He studied at Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf; San Francisco Art Institute, where he received his BFA; and Stanford University, where he received his MFA.  Ezawa has shown his work at Artpace San Antonio, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Biennial. In 2006 he received the prestigious SECA Art Award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  The Simpson Verdict, in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, was recently featured in that museum's presentation of its collections. Kota Ezawa currently lives in San Francisco and teaches at the California College of Art.

Related Programming:
Artist’s Talk: Kota Ezawa
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
4:00 pm
Artist Kota Ezawa will discuss his unique approach to filmmaking. Introduction by guest curator Amanda Hellman.

The Williams College Museum of Art is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free and the museum is wheelchair accessible. Publicity images for this and other current exhibitions are available for use by the press. Contact: Suzanne A. Silitch, Director of Public Relations and External Affairs, 413.597.3178