MINAKO NISHIYAMA / drawings

Jan 28 - Feb 19, 2017
11:00-19:00,　Closed | Feb 8 - 13
January Party | Jan 28, 17:00-19:00
Yoshimi Arts

Yoshimi Arts is pleased to present the solo exhibition "MINAKO NISHIYAMA / drawings" by Minako Nishiyama.

Since the late 1980s, Minako Nishiyama has been noted for creating sculptural work that intensely highlights “girl culture” with the huge piece The PINKÚ House (1991), that is reminiscent of Licca-chan’s house (something like Barbie’s house), or work that is like the backdrop for a Takarazuka stage, using pulp and paper as the main material. She is one of the figures that began making work through the unique medium of Japanese subculture.
Later, after the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, she began using baking ingredients such as sugar and egg-white to create Sugar Crown (1999), or roses, to create ephemeral work that is easily destroyed. It is around this time that her work seemingly changes visually, however the nature of the work does not change, and rather that the aspects to continue pursuing “femininity” or human nature are expanded. Additionally, her works have utilized a wide range of methods and materials, such as work that began with her interest in light, “Ref-work” (ref paintings), which uses the reflection of color, murals painted directly onto the wall in which patterns and vague pink colors are visible, and works made with a camera.
What lies at the center of Nishiyama’s works are, of course, the elements of “pink” and “kawaii” (cute). She describes her thoughts on “pink” in this way:

So the pink in my work around this time was consciously and very intentionally “nasty”. Less “cute” than “typical” or even “excessive”.
[…]There are brash Look at me! pinks and there are quite receding pinks you have to go after before they vanish. I’ve always created my works wondering just why I myself should prefer the faintest blush of pink, or what exactly being attracted means. Why do we think something is “cute”? This will no　doubt be a lifelong pursuit of mine. Having given a lot of thought to the nature of “attraction” and just what “pink” does to people, my current conclusion－above and beyond my own personal likes－is that it’s something basic human DNA. I know I’m not the only one who likes blushing Japanese sweets or rosy sunsets. Of course everyone has individual favorites, but I just know there’s some common thread or shared core sensibility that connects us all. And it’s the search to find out what that essential human quality might be that drives me to create.

Minako Nishiyama “Minako Nishiyama / Iroiki; beyond the wall”
Kobe Design University Lecture Series II-4, Shinjuku Shobo p. 85~86
*the work of this time: The body of work around ♡Erica’s Palpitant Teleppon Club♡ (1992)

This exhibition will be composed of selected work from the early 2000s to current work, focused on drawings, as well as her early sculptural work from 1989 when Nishiyama first began to take interest in the color pink, and the “Ref-work”(ref painting). The drawings are more like sketches, and are abstract, but show glimpses of the manifestations of Nishiyama’s thoughts.

*Image| for exhibition invitation

January Party | Jan 28 (sat), 17:00-19:00
Five galleries in Wakasa Bldg. and Santos Bldg. will hold party at the same time.
（Participating galleries | Calo Bookshop & Cafe, SAI GALLERY, Yoshimi Arts, The Third Gallery Aya, KOUICHI FINE ARTS）

Reference image｜The PINKÚ House, 1991, photo:Kunio Oshima / Sugar Crown, 1999, photo:Yukio Yoshinari / Exhibition view: solo exhibition at Kyoyo Art Center, two works:Untitled, 2007 / Shin NAGISA Cute Up Project, 2013, Setouchi Triennale 2013, photo:Kohei Takekoshi