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An interview of Ayako Kuno about

  • An interview of Ayako Kuno about

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An interview of Ayako Kuno about "line".

Gallery

《subway map》/ 2020 / acrylic, brass


I am very much inspired with city scape, casting into metal works forms coming out of urban scenery. This show features “lines” that mankind has created on earth whence comes the exhibition title of line and I try to develop this line.

The installation view of solo show :line, 2020


In this room, I challenged a new style with old furniture for the first time. Normally metal works will become blackish color because of oxidation or sulfuration, so artists tend to control of surface changing through coloring or stopping color, however, the works exhibited in this room keep their original metal color. Just as the old furniture will become “chic” with time passing from its original state, my works here will probably be integrated into the environment, so I have left these surface shining as it is to follow its own way.

《35°42′36″N,139°48′39″E》(Skytree)/ 2020 / wooden box, brass


To begin with, Sky Tree, the tallest building in Tokyo, is installed on the highest position in the room. The colander attracted me in an antique shop since I am familiar with a colander using it for draining sand in the course of casting process. Although this is rather rough example, the colander looks cool by itself. Tokyo Tower has an impression of trailing or crawling on earth compared with Sky Tree, so I put Tokyo Tower onto the colander.

《35°39′31″N,139°44′44″E》(Tokyo Tower)/ 2020 / sieve, brass


The view of sky scrapers in the West Shinjuku area from new Shibuya Sky has some undulation or relief with such building of Modo in shape of cocoon. You can step up the ladder or also appreciate it from beneath.

《35°41′22″N,139°41′30″E》(Shinjuku) / 2020 / ladder, brass


Rainbow bridge has been connected with the old wheel. Off course this kind of wheel is not working any more, still we can imagine the old days where old vehicles were passing through the bridges.

《35°38′11″N,139°45′50″E》(Rainbow Bridge) / 2020 / wheels, brass


Door is not necessarily only for cities, but I admired the atmosphere of its looking. The door knobs are missing in antique shops, which reminds us of the door knob in the past.

The installation view of solo show :line, 2020


Before explaining the artworks associated with Olympics, first I would like to refer to the image of Japan viewed from outside. I think the foreigners consider Mount Fuji as the symbols or landmarks of Japan. Although I have never climbed up Fuji to the summit, I really admire its form while watching its silhouette or forms on the map, so I decided to embody the three dimensional Fuji out of map or plan, by accumulating the layers of 50m above 1450m of the upper part of the mountain. The mountainous part is made of so-called German silver, which used to be popular as silver. The color is a little bit gentler than the true silver. The part added to this base in messy forms are "artificial" part, including roads, borders between the prefectures, or between other local areas. The minute brass part is the area that mankind can destroy or already having destroyed in the name of development, the trees that man can work with.

The installation view of solo show :line, 2020


Motifs associated with Olympic Games seemed to me the national flags presented at the opening as well as closing ceremony and awards ceremony. The ratio of height and width of each flag depends on the country and the thirty flags with correct ratio are represented with the transportation network of its capital within this flag space. The network is either road map, bus route map or water channel of the capital. If the metro route map is lacking, then I referred to railway map or road map. The title of each work covers the country code of each country composed of number and alphabet. On the 26 countries, portraits of gold medalists are shot with digital images. Please refer to the documentations attached. Some countries are without these face images, since data is based on the Olympic Games in 2016.

The installation view of solo show :line, 2020


This image is on Tokyo. As the images indicate it, the city is now thriving with the construction rush for the Olympics in summer. These are the images of the cities of past Olympics as London (2012), Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008). The facilities in present situation are on view to show how the constructed facilities or legacies are redeveloped. Redevelopment has been successful in London while the facilities are already in ruins in the other two. We should reflect on which way to follow for the city of Tokyo.

《water and sewerage》/ 2020 / silver, brass


This work represents the upper and lower water channel : upper channel in silver and lower in brass, and the difference of these two seemed interesting to me.



Ayako Kuno’s solo exhibition : line
2020. Feb. 7 (Fri.) - 24(Mon) Mar. 1 (Sun)

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