Well-known Itoshima artist-run gallery, studio and residency programme Studio Kura will host an exhibition this coming weekend featuring the work of nine international artists currently working at the space.
The exhibition will consist of an open house on Apr. 21 (Sat.) and Apr. 22 (Sun.), and on Sunday there will be a series of artist talks and a party.
The nine artists come from New Zealand, the Netherlands, India, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, the US and the UK. While some of the artists have made their work in response to the stunning Itoshima environment and Japanese culture in general, others have continued with their research and ongoing art practice.
• 4/21 (Sat.), 4/22 (Sun.)
• 11:00~18:00 (Sun.: 15:30 party and artist talk)
• Free
• Studio Kura
• 586 Nijomasue, Itoshima, Fukuoka
• https://studiokura.info/en/
The following outlines the nine artists and their work.
JP Neang, United States: Heavy Ground
JP Neang’s works, imaginative and inspired landscapes of Itoshima, focus on the viewer’s perspective from a bird’s-eye view. “The greatest weight of life rests in the palm of our hands, which is both literal and symbolic in this showcase,” says the artist.
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Prasanta Kumar Kolay, India: Interpretations. A Personal View of Itoshima
Prasanta’s work is about nature and his interpretation of it. He works ‘en plain air’ and observes the beauty of the natural world which he strives to capture in his paintings.
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Gabrielle Kroese, Netherlands: I’ll make you a cherry blossom necklace
Gabrielle’s series of photo prints were made during her stay at Studio Kura. The colours for the painted additions are picked while blindfolded from the Haishoku Soukan, a dictionary of colour combinations by Japanese artist and designer Sanzo Wada.
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MORTIZ.SÉCIO (Igor Moritz & Maria Secio), Poland & Portugal: A-un
Artists Igor Moritz & Maria Secio, working together, will show works that look at the duality between the harmonic and bizarre in everyday Japanese life. “Like the Niomon symbolizes the birth and death of all things, we came to the conclusion that as a duo, we wanted to portray the contrasting feelings felt in the Japanese landscape.”
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Neda Dana-Haeri, United Kingdom: Pause in Moments
Neda explores the Japanese concept of ma, the space, the gap, the in-between, the pause. “Through the movement of ink and brush, shadow and light filling the space, there is no absence… there’s room for growth. Eternal through the fleeting moment.”
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Gilly Beal, United Kingdom: The marks of time
Gilly’s mixed media works record the everyday marks or traces she sees around her. Whether worn calligraphic characters or a rusty piece of corrugated iron, they are beautiful and emotive, redolent of the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi.
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Ella Harrington Knapton, New Zealand: Peels
In a system of layered mark making, Ella’s drawings map spaces contained within coverings. Exploring notions of control and preservation with a reference to presentation in Japanese consumer culture, the finished work contains a complex special conversation throughout.
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Ruth Celeste Estigarribia, Paraguay: A Sense of Place
Found objects, shapes and textures of the environment are central to the work in an appreciation of Japanese places and aesthetics. A series of metal grills and drain covers provide plates for direct embossing while photographs of worn and faded surfaces are converted to plates for hand printing.
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Studio Kura’s Artist in Residence Program, founded by Itoshima native Hirofumi Matsuzaki, is a chance for domestic and international artists to experience and draw inspiration from Japan’s rural environment, as well as for Studio Kura’s thriving local community to meet different artists and their works. Stays are usually four, eight or twelve weeks long, and the participating artists are required to present an exhibition at the end of their stay.
Studio Kura is located in Itoshima, Fukuoka Prefecture, a rural area just 45 minutes away from Fukuoka City by train or car.