“Nuda Veritas (naked truth)” – the greatest masterpiece of the golden decorative painter of Fin-de-siècle Vienna, Gustav Klimt.
In OPAM’s Opening Exhibition vol.2, “Dawn of Gods,” OPAM achieves a space-time traversing encounter that has never before been seen and will never be seen again: between Klimt’s goddess and Oita’s Venuses, the wooden Buddhist sculptures of Usa’s Tempukuji Temple that were created between the Nara and Heian periods.
The mysterious treasure-trove of Usa and Kunisaki in the North-East of Oita Prefecture. The ancient Usa Shrine first cultivated the belief in Hachiman and the Rokugo-Manzan, which is a syncretism of Shinto with Buddhism. The culture of Oita changes prayers from time immemorial and “the yearning for that which cannot be seen” into new Venuses, resurrected for us as contemporary people.
Paintings in the Art Nouveau (modern style) depicting the goddesses of the end of the century of the East and West, molding in the local style of Oita’s gods and festivals, and furthermore the “mystical thoughts” expressed by modern art – a totally new type of exhibition that goes beyond time and space and genre, and dramatically stages “Oita’s beauty, a yearning for Venus”.