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Jim Dine at work on the Chazen commission in his Paris studio. Photo: Russell Panzcenko
Manabu Ikeda at work on Rebirth in the Chazen studio classroom.
On December 14, 2016, the large-scale ink drawing entitled Rebirth, which Ikeda Manabu produced during his three-year residency in Madison, was packed up and shipped to Japan. There, the piece, accompanied by a selection of Ikeda’ s other works, including the Chazen’ s Meltdown( 2013) and Grass Mantis( 2004) will be displayed in four different museums across the country. The first venue will be the Prefectural Museum in Saga, Ikeda’ s hometown. I am sure his family and friends, from whom he has long been absent, will welcome him and celebrate his great accomplishment. What will happen to this exceptional work after it completes the tour of the Japanese museums is still up in the air. As one would expect, the Saga Prefectural Museum would like to keep it. However, during Ikeda’ s Madison residency curators from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in