2024.11.1 Fri - 11.14 Thu
SANBANCHOGALLERY is pleased to present Kaori Tamura’s first solo exhibition, "Ride on Islands."
Tamura's work features fantastical animals as motifs, using a green palette that evokes nature, to express the richness of the Earth.
Her unique technique involves layering paint on wooden panels and then carving into them with needles and other sharp tools. This act of "carving" mirrors the process of unearthing long-buried memories or fading utopias, bringing them back to the surface and giving them form.
To ensure these unearthed images never fade again, Tamura employs the tempera technique, making the memories and landscapes more vivid and permanent in her work.
"Ride on Islands"
This exhibition presents works that reflect the unique charm of islands, as observed through Tamura’s fresh perspective on the landscapes and nature of these environments.
Tamura has traveled to various islands, including Taiwan, Bali in Indonesia, and Rottnest Island in Australia. In Japan, she has visited Matsushima and Izumo. The desire to express the richness she experienced in these places is the starting point of this exhibition.
Islands, surrounded by water, possess unique geographical and ecological characteristics. These limited spaces are home to distinctive flora and fauna, and sometimes foster cultures isolated from the outside world. While such islands may seem like paradises due to their abundant nature, they also harbor harsh realities such as natural disasters and shifts in ecosystems due to extinction.
Moreover, limited spaces in contemporary society—such as schools or workplaces—can also have island-like characteristics, where beneath an attractive surface, pressures and restrictions exist.
In Japanese culture, there is the concept of karesansui (dry landscape gardens), which symbolizes the beauty born from such harsh environments. People of the past created landscapes by using sand and stones to represent seas and islands, as if viewing them from the sky. This allowed for moments of tranquility and the expansion of one’s imagination, even in a confined space.
Just as harsh natural environments can give rise to new forms of beauty, overcoming societal constraints can reveal new richness in life.
By "riding on" each island, new perspectives can emerge—things once unseen become visible. Through carving and unearthing these hidden elements, and by fostering respect for what is visible as well as imagination for what is not, Tamura’s message is that our daily lives and the world around us can become more enriched.
SAN BANCHO GALLERY
"From the Artist"
"Ride on Islands" is an exploration of new perspectives on islands through Kaori Tamura’s work, which expands on landscapes by observing island nations.
In the works, the islands put down roots in the sea, gannets soar through the sky, and the land is cultivated. Mountains, like living beings, sit and gather water. Harsh, beast-like natural forces also appear with the changing seasons.
In Japanese culture, karesansui (dry landscape gardens) represents the way people of the past, confined to limited spaces, used sand and stones to depict seas and islands, creating landscapes that appeared to be viewed from above. They would walk through and admire these scenes, calming their minds.
Following this tradition, I believe that by keeping respect for what we can see and imagination for what we cannot close to our hearts, we can enrich our world.
On Green
There is research suggesting that the Earth's mantle, which covers its core, is composed primarily of peridotite.
Peridotite is a pale green rock, and if that is the case, there may be a deep green world spreading beneath the soil.
It is upon this foundation that we stand.
By carving into the surface of the work, it feels as though I am digging into that world, directing my creative energy toward the ground beneath my feet.
Kaori Tamura
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