Gallery's Picks for the Month (2023落山風藝術季）

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Alfredo ＆ Isabel Aquilizan

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Alfredo & Isabel Akilizan are Filipino-born Australian artists. They have participated in various international exhibitions and have completed numerous projects in Japan and other Asian countries. 2006 saw them move to Brisbane (Australia), where they started Project "Another Country" on the theme of "home" or "habitation".

They are a couple, parents and artists. While each pursues a creative profession, the theme of their collaborative work is everyday life at home with their five children. The duty of bringing up their children and the intimacy of ensuring their well-being have led them to reflect their collective habits (collecting and belonging) in their work.

Their work also reflects strong memories of their homeland and country. 'Memory' in their work refers to the history of daily life, including people, places and encounters, and the artefacts that record them, as a process for recalling that life. By engaging in this artistic process, they work with the communities in which the projects take place and build connections with the people who live there. By collecting household items, memorabilia, everyday objects, used and discarded, they restore the ecology of art as a system of interaction, a powerful presentation of mutual critique of difference and exploration of the possibilities of community convergence.

Alfredo ＆ Isabel Aquilizan《Migration》exhibited at Seaside Gallery, Luo Shan Feng Art Festival 2023

And currently on display in the Viewing Room at Art Front Gallery is their 2019 work, Habitat (Circle). This work was created when they participated in the "Who's place is this, where both adults and children think? exhibitionWho's place is this, where both adults and children think? exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in 2015.

This work was combined and stacked like a tower with countless cardboard houses made by pupils and visitors from nearby primary schools during the museum's 2015 exhibition. Some of them travelled with the artists via Taiwan and the Philippines after the months-long museum exhibition, and on the occasion of their solo exhibition "Home / Return 2019" in Tokyo in 2019, they returned to Japan again with the memories and lives of the lands and people they had travelled to as a new context in the background, symbolising their production style.

Alfredo ＆ Isabel Aquilizan《Habitat (Circle)》2019 / cardboard, wood / 1200x1210x110mm exhibited at Art Front Gallery

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Oscar Oiwa

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Oscar Oiwa is an artist who expresses a narrative and socially satirical view of the world on canvas with great force. With a unique sense of humour and imagination, he has lived and worked in Sao Paulo, Tokyo and New York. Born in Sao Paulo to Japanese parents, he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Sao Paulo. He then began working in an architectural office in Tokyo while also working as an artist. He is currently based in the USA. He is well travelled, and while on the move, one gets the sense that he is searching for his own identity rooted in multiple cultures. He uses a precise touch and bird's-eye view compositions, finds clues to social issues in newspaper articles and the internet, and creates large paintings.

Oscar Oiwa《Giant Octopus 2》2016 / oil on canvas / 2270 x 3330 mm / exhibited at Seaside Gallery, Luo Shan Feng Art Festival 2023

And the work currently on show at Art Front Gallery is 《Two Ships under the Moon light 2》. The straight traces of ships sailing as if illuminated by golden moonlight and the soft light reflected on the surface of the water seem to remind us of the calm sea.

Oscar Oiwa《Two Ships under the Moon light 2》2018 / oil on canvas / 405x510x15mm exhibited at Art Front Gallery

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Bunpei Kado

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Bunpei Kado is an artist who has been dramatically expanding his activities in various locations in recent years. He is currently presenting a show window work at the Hermes Takashimaya Kyoto shop under the theme of 'Night Parade of One Hundred Demons', based on the image of Tsukumogami, the 99 deities said to dwell in old tools. The work shows his respect for the brand's careful craftsmanship. In addition, at the Kiaf SEOUL art fair held in Seoul, South Korea, in September, he won one of the top three awards in the Kiaf SEOUL 2023 Highlights, selected from more than 150 artists from participating galleries around the world by a vote of the visitors to the fair. He is one of the world's most popular artists.

He is an artist whose appeal lies in his ability to express himself with the freedom of a child and to reproduce his work with the delicacy of a Japanese artist. His creations, despite being meticulously crafted, give the illusion of being everyday objects picked up from somewhere else. With humorous and witty ideas, the daily life combined always has a subtle sense of discomfort and the power to make the viewer pay close attention to the work.

The new work "Dream Pillow Boat" 2023, which will be presented in Taiwan this time, is based on a work created at the Setouchi International Art Festival 2013, and will be produced in conjunction with the theme Frequency of The Wind for the Lushan Wind Art Season 2023. The work is created as if it were an image of the '99 gods' that dwell in things, by arranging objects that people once used in their voyages and daily lives. The work reconstructs the landscape of ships and islands as if to depict the dreams of sailors who once ventured out into the open sea.

Bunepi Kado《Dream Pillow Boat 2023》 / exhibited at Seaside Gallery, Luo Shan Feng Art Festival 2023

And currently on view at Art Front Gallery is Boat island, created in 2017. This work is full of his typical humour, in which the island is directly transformed into a boat.

Bunpei Kado《Boat island》2017 / FRP, wood, model material / 380 x 810 x 260 mm exhibited at Art Front Gallery

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Koichiro Azuma

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Koichiro Azuma was born in 1998. He is an artist who creates mainly moving three-dimensional works by combining junk, such as bicycles collected from local residents, with metal. In recent years, he has mainly used abandoned bicycles as material. This was triggered by his living in Toride City, Ibaraki Prefecture, where he came across a large number of abandoned bicycles, which are considered a local problem, and from there it led to artwork in various areas. He has collected bicycles in various places, met many people in various areas, and started to create artworks while interacting with local people.

This time he will present a huge new work, Wind Wheel, in Taiwan. The winds in Pingtung County, Taiwan, where the exhibition will be held, are very strong, and he wanted to create a work that utilises the power of the strong winds. The force of the wind passes through the huge propeller and drives the rotation of the shaft, which in turn drives the rotation of the wheels of the car. Ultimately, the energy is transmitted to all the wheels. The unpredictable forces and directions of the wind seem to visually illustrate our ever-changing relationship with nature.

Koichiro Azuma《風⾞輪 / Wind Wheel》2023 / production view, exhibited at Seaside Gallery, Luo Shan Feng Art Festival 2023 (Outdoor exhibit）

And now available at the Art Front Gallery is a model of the work for the Seaside Gallery. Already from the model stage, the dynamic strength of the work can already be felt, and the balance between the lightness of the windmill and the martial alignment of the steel wheels is fascinating.

Koichiro Azuma《Model for Wind Wheel》2023 / iron / 1600 x 1350 x 1000 mm exhibited at Art Front Gallery

Other works on display in the viewing room on the ground floor of Art Front Gallery include a boat by Iku Harada, who is currently holding a solo exhibition, drawings by Koichiro Azuma and a boat by Alfredo & Isabelle Aquilizan. Please visit also the solo exhibiton of Iku Harada. Iku Harada Solo Exhibition : In the Window

※Since viewing room is mainly for business meeting, the space might be reserved and not for viewing according to business schedule. If you think of possible purchase, please contact first by email via contact before your visit.

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■2023落山風藝術季 -風的頻率- Luo Shan Feng Art Festival - Frequency of Wind
Dates: December 15（Fri), 2023 - February 25 (Sun) 2024
Theme：Frequency of The Wind
Venue：屏東海口港 看海美術館　Seaside Gallery（Pingtung, Taiwan）
Website
Artist:
Shinji Ohmaki, Bunpei Kado, Yoshitaka Nanjo, Oscar Oiwa, Alfredo ＆ Isabel Aquilizan, Koichiro Azuma (outdoor exhibit)