Well-known Itoshima artist-run gallery, studio and residency programme Studio Kura will host an exhibition this coming weekend featuring the work of six international artists currently working at the space. The artists come from the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
• 8/25 (Sat.), 8/26 (Sun.)
• 11:00~18:00
• 8/25: Party and artist talk 17:00~
• Free
• Studio Kura
• 586 Nijomasue, Itoshima City, Fukuoka
• https://studiokura.info/en/
The following outlines the six artists and their work.
Herman Verhagen, Netherlands: “on nature on porcelain”
Exhibition style: Animation in cobalt blue on a porcelain landscape
A ceramist, Herman Verhagen from Amsterdam creates a visionary nature landscape using porcelain which he bought at Imari City. He then projects a cobalt blue watercolour animation on it, showing an exciting project mapping-like installation combined with stillness and movement of nature, at Kura (rice storage) Gallery.
Hiroka Yamashita, United States: “the Swimmer / the Sleeper”
Exhibition style: Painting
Hiroka Yamashita (born in 1991, Hyogo in Japan) is a New York-based painter. Yamashita has painted based on the observation of life, folktales, and memories. This time, she presents a collection of oil paintings which are based on the day when she went to Yokosuka to see the works of painter Koji Nakazono, as well as her experiences in Itoshima.
Lisa Fong, United States: “Above Water, Below Ground”
Exhibition style: Painting, Drawing, Embroidery
Born in Berkeley, California but raised in a Cantonese family, Lisa Fong interweaves connections of living in between her duality. Within the exhibit, she listens to the landscape of language barriers and illustrates this sound by symbolizing it through the rice fields located near Studio Kura. Also, referencing back to photographs of her mother’s rural village, the drawings and paintings focuses on deconstructing then reconstructing a sense of familiarity.
Chloe Ong, United Kingdom: “A Little Slower, A Little Close”
Exhibition style: Painting
Chloe Ong from Singapore is currently based in London as a master degree art student. Having lived in several busy cities, she found a complete change while staying in the rural area in Itoshima. In response to this new, beautiful surrounding, she shows a new series of works and sketches depicting the much slower and intimate pace of time.
Fiona Templeton, United States: “a walk in Shiraito”
Exhibition style: Installation/ performance
A director of the New York performance group “The Relationship”, Fiona Templeton, who is originally from Scotland, works in performance, installation and writing. Inspired by the nearby Shiraito Falls and the Sazaedo (Entsu Sansodo: double helix temple) in Aizu, Fukushima Prefecture, she uses white thread (shiro ito) to make a labyrinth journey for the audience at the
shrine space.
Carol Swain, Australia: “Seeing Again, Making Again, Breathing Again”
Exhibition style: Drawing
Carol Swain is a visual artist based in Castlemaine, a small country town in Australia. As a new place opens up in varying ways of seeing to her, she challenges to present delicate drawings of nature and objects/landscape here with fading textures, which reflect on the future of some faded residence areas because of depopulation.
