Exhibition

Yuka Namekawa: A Place of Innocence
image: I had my whole life ahead of me, 2010, polyethylene, 170 × 250 × 450 mm

  • 滑川由夏 - A Place of Innocence

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Yuka Namekawa: A Place of Innocence

Dec. 6. 2011 (tue) - Dec. 25 (sun)

Art Front Gallery will hold an exhibition of works by Yuka Namekawa, entitled "A Place of innocence".
Date Dec. 6. 2011 (tue) - Dec. 25 (sun)
Hours 11.00 - 19.00 (closed on Mondays)
Location: Art Front Gallery
Event Reception Party Dec. 20 (tue) 18.30 - 20.00
the artist appears at the gallery on: Dec.20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
Special event Installation using a whole gallery for limited 6 days: Dec. 20 (tue) - Dec. 25 (Sun)
Yuka Namekawa is known for her simple and eloquent expression of the figure. The burly and humorous figure is sitting alone, standing against the wall, and sitting straight with gathering round. Those figures resemble the life of city dwellers (including the viewers of course), and she well expresses such attraction of people’s movement in everyday life. She had continued the style for about 10 years from 90s, which seems long term for a career of such a young artist. It was from 2007 to 2008 when her style was begun to be changed. She locked the figures into the frosted glass and also created the work by the permeable resin, which belongs more closely to flat works rather than sculptures. Once the card is turned the artist starts to quickly turn other card as well. However, the definitive change was occurred at London, where she moved in 2008 and still stayed in the following year dispatched from the Agency for Cultural Affair as an emerging artist. It was creation of works without figures. Though the figure of her works had once become blurred inside the frosted glass, she had never created the works without it so far.
What replaced the figures was the building-like work made of cubes of resin. For example, in a work entitled “I had my whole life ahead of me” created in 2010, semitransparent cubes were piled up, remaining a hollow at the center. Though we might make different interpretation on this work after experiencing the huge earthquake, this was made before it. What appears in front of us is the space without figures with light coming through it. It is not what we should confront identifying with by our humor and other feelings but is “something” which can be captured both positively and negatively. On the other hand, as the title implies we may perceive a sign of life in this work. It is as if the figure created by the artist in the past is now standing with us confronting the pile and the emptiness inside. The exhibition title “innocence” stands for guiltless, ingenuous, and harmless. The form of piled up polyethylene cubes and its space allow us to be reminded of various things, and that will be the real pleasure of art. This exhibition will be the first time after Namekawa’s return to Japan to exhibit her works from figure sculptures and works of semitransparent resin to recent three-dimensional works of cubes. Viewers may see the transition of her attitude and the change of the relationship between the artist and viewers.
Toshio Kondo / Art Front Gallery

[Biography]
1974 born in Kanagawa
1997 BA in Tama Art Univerisity
1999 MFA in Tokyto National Univerisity of Fine Arts and Music
2000 Research student course in Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music

■Selected Solo Exhibitions
2006 Focusing on a New Generation in Tokyo 2006, Gallery Natsuka / Tokyo ('02, '03, '04)
2005 Gallery Motomachi / Kanagawa
2000 SKYDOOR, Artplace Aoyama / Tokyo

■Selected Group Exhibitions
2011 "Dandans", Frederick Harris Gallery at Tokyo American Club / Tokyo
"Hierher Dorthin", Goethe Institute / Tokyo
"The Lounge", Bvlgari Ginza Tower / Tokyo
2009 "Florence Trust Summer Exhibition" / London
2008 "The House ?Comfort Living of Contemporary Art", Japan Homes Model House / Tokyo
2007 "Face-Reflection of Color and Figure-", Gallery Concept 21 / Tokyo
"Love Art ! 2007 summer", Promo Arte Gallery / Tokyo

■Commission Works
2008-9 Park Hyatt Shanghai

■Art-in-Residence
2009-10 Japanese Government Overseas Study Programme for Artist / London
2005 UNESCO-Ascheberg 2005/2006 Bursaries for Artists Programme / France

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