One year after his first solo exhibition at galerie a, we will once again be hosting an exhibition by musician and poet Madoki Yamasaki, who will presenting his graffiti works.
Yamasaki sings, recites, writes, and endlessly crafts together poems, broadening his range of expression as if he were placing a hyphen between each and every one of his words.
Dwelling in a forever-revolving world reminiscent of a whirlpool, this “hyphenated”
expressionist will reflect his madness on transparent glass vessels. This summer, come get a firsthand view of the feverish heat that gently surges out of Yamasaki.
This is a session between Madoki Yamasaki and galerie a that began from “Co-existence with Poems”.
Madoki Yamasaki has been tagging words on walls as one form of expression since his teenage years, when he began learning music.
Nobuhiko Akiyoshi of galerie a became acquainted with Yamasaki, got a hold of the poems crafted by the artist,
and requested for Yamasaki to do an exhibition under the artistic theme “Placing poems in one’s everyday life”.
Yamasaki then spent his days in the room that Akiyoshi lent to him as a studio, continuing his production process as summer approached.
This year, Yamasaki and Akiyoshi will engage in their second session.
A series of characters improvised in the most exquisite way.
Strokes of varying size, continuing on and on. The groove in Madoka Yamasaki’s penmanship and spray painting convey a peculiar, unique rhythm.
For this particular exhibition, Yamasaki’s medium will be glassware collected by Akiyoshi.
Characters filling the surface of glass, being passed through by the light that comes in contact with it.
This exhibition will demonstrate the various forms of expression done by Yamasaki within that capacity.
I have known about ceramic artist Kana Ueda's work via SNS, exhibitions and stores that carry her works, and I have even purchased and own pieces by her. Unfortunately, however, I have not had a chance to meet her in the flesh. However, when Mr. Akiyoshi ̶ the director of galerie a and a great help and inspiration in my activities as a buyer and curator̶ asked me to write a contribution to the exhibition "Draw the Edge" by Ms. Ueda, I was pleasantly surprised and jumped at the opportunity to do so.
However, as buyers and curators, neither Mr. Akiyoshi nor I get to enjoy the luxury of having dialogue with the artists themselves as much as we’ d like to. But there are many occasions when we get to stand face-to-face with the artwork itself and say our piece about them. I am trying to write this article by reading the press release of this exhibition, watching the interview video multiple times and looking at the Kana Ueda works that I possess̶ all the while getting worked up in excitement about actually getting the chance to write about her. I apologize in advance and hope the readers will forgive me.
“Kana Ueda's work take on the form of a natural object.” If I had to put it in a few words, this seems to be the general opinion, impression and view of her work, according to information found on the media and internet. Certainly, at first glance, one would get that impression. However, I cannot help but be more conscious of the fact that these works fall more in the “artifact" category than anything else. Above all, it is the traces of Zogan in the work, which takes an unimaginable amount of time and effort to execute.
When shaping clay on a potter's wheel, the sphere becomes a container (tableware) if its shape is kept under the bottom half of its size. Stretch it up further, and the sphere becomes a jar (flower vase). A ceramic artist once told me that the moment a piece crosses the hemispherical boundary line, it becomes a work of art again. On the other point, the small mouth of vases, which are Ms. Ueda’ s masterpieces, remind me that they are "artifacts" due to their small size and the way they are delicately made.
Ms. Ueda made a very interesting statement in her interview video. To summarize, she stated that her work may come closer to the texture of natural objects as a result of the unconsciousness that her continuous work leads her to and the purely human physical nature that accompanies those works. In this regard, her works certainly do seem to lie where “artifice” and “nature” overlap.
Recently, I have been told on several occasions that “when people are touching objects, those objects are also touching people” . From this perspective, Ms. Ueda’ s works draw in the viewer, making them want to touch them. At the same time, the works also seem to be standing quietly, with an expression of them waiting for us to touch them. The infinite amount of carvings she has made on the surface through her tools seem to indicate the fact that her hands have been in contact with the works numerous times during the process of creating them.
In the text, Mr. Akiyoshi’ s intention with "Draw the Edge" was clearly stated as changes in form, surface and mass. However, as Mr. Akiyoshi himself stated in the video, I feel that his intention behind the exhibition is to encourage the act of “touch". I, too, hope to meet the artist herself, and I hope I can “touch” her newly changed works as soon as possible.
method Inc.
buyer Yu Yamada
Kana Ueda
Born in Kanagawa, Japan in 1992, Kana Ueda graduated from Musashino Art University, Department of Crafts and Industrial Design in 2015. The organic forms and finely carved patterns with inlays characterize her work, which has been highly acclaimed for invoking thoughts and feelings of nature.
A group of works that are strongly conscious of surfaces, different from the typical rounded style.
Standing in Ueda's atelier,
Scraps from the production process, pieces of experiments, and things with scratches.
Although these are not published as works,
There are many things that give you a sense of his efforts and attitude as a writer.
Our gallery director freely combines,
A one of a kind collection with a different perspective.
Gallery Info
- You can see the work on the following schedule. We look forward to seeing you there.
* Appointment is not required.
- Date
- 2023.11.10 FRI - 11.19 SUN12:00 - 18:00
- Address
- 104, 6-9-2 Minamiaoyama Minato-ku, Tokyo
- Tel
- 03 6450 6725
Credit
- Gallery Direction
- Nobuhiko Akiyoshi
- Contributors
-
Yusuke Shiki
Tomoyuki Washiyama
Roca Onishi
Masakado Nishibayashi
Kei Gunji
Ahraun Chambliss
Yuko Mori
Shoko Akiyoshi