"Material and Form" in a digital age II

Rachel Adams/Mizuki Kakinuma/Haruko Sasakawa
Oct 28 - Nov 20, 2016
11:00-19:00　Closed on Tue, Wed
Yoshimi Arts

Yoshimi Arts is pleased to present the group exhibition "Material and Form" in a digital age II.

Since the Meiji period, Japanese artists have always tried to absorb western culture. It has been 60 years since the 1950s, when the Japanese art world first confronted this new concept of “contemporary art”. Since then, contemporary art has grown into a global omnipresence. Rather than merely imitating western contemporary art, there is a growing visibility of a generation of artists in Japan that take advantage of the omnipresence of contemporary art as a means to express the richness of Japanese culture. Additionally, historical movements such as Gutai and Mono-ha are gaining traction in the United States and the UK.
In 2014, Yoshimi Arts put on “Material and Form”in a digital age, an exhibition of the work of three artists working in the digital era. The objective of the exhibition was to investigate and consider the material and its significance through visualizing the similarities and differences between the work of the three artists, who approached the material in their respective ways. For this next show, we will once again be exhibiting Rachel Adams and Haruko Sasakawa, who will be joined this time by Mizuki Kakinuma.
Rachel Adams had a solo exhibition at Yoshimi Arts in 2015 titled “Open Studio”. In the same year she was selected for the Sainsbury Scholarship in Painting and Sculpture which allowed her to spend a year in Rome. Her work was deeply influenced by the change in environment from Glasgow, where she normally works, to Italy, where she came into contact with the rich history, the climate, and the people. She will exhibit the work she created while in Rome.
Haruko Sasagawa has been examining social issues through her work. Furthermore, she looked back on how art and design was used as a form of media during the war for her doctoral thesis. She will continue to create work about the relationship between the media and people.
Mizuki Kakinuma has had 4 solo shows between 2012 and 2016. Although oil on canvas had been his medium of choice, for his solo show in 2014 he exhibited mixed media work, using ropes, pieces of cans, nails, chunks of paint medium, aluminum plates, burning the canvas, and lacquer, in addition to the traditional oil on canvas. Artists using oil paints, nihonga materials, and crafts sometimes tend to have unadulterated enthusiasm towards these specific materials, or are hesitant in using other materials either from lack of knowledge in the background or material itself. Kakinuma, however, integrates new materials without hesitation. For this exhibition he will be presenting work made with new techniques and processes.

*Image：
Left | Mizuki Kakinuma　Work 2016-july (a.)　2016　mixed media　609×455mm(P12)
Center | Rachel Adams　Sleeve 1　2016　felt, thread, buttons　23×14×h21cm
Right | Haruko Sasakwa, illustrative image