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Mandala Flea Market Mutants: Pop Protocol and the Seven Transformations of Good-luck National Defense Cats
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March 30, 2012
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Solo exhibition of artist Yoko Inoue: "Mandala Flea Market Mutants: Pop Protocol and the Seven Transformations of Good-luck National Defense Cats"
Exhibition Dates: March 17- April 22, 2012
Location: Smack Mellon Gallery, NYC
I attempt to poetically elucidate the
relationships between objects and humans in the context of the
intricately interdependent, contemporary, multi-cultural environment. I
consider the confluence of different cultures in the market place,
paying attention to such aspect as product routes, specific cultural
derivations of products, and the influence of globalization and free
trade on traditional culture. In my installation art, I use the ceramic
medium, because of its cultural universality, to seek ways of linking
contemporary objects to their history, lost cultural origins and
displaced meanings.
Mandala Flea Market Mutants: Pop Protocol and the Seven Transformations of Good-luck National Defense Cats takes the form of a multi-disciplinary installation that affects and aestheticize the appearances and mechanics of a marketplace, materially consisting of excessive accumulations of banal objects, commoditized sacred figures or good luck icons that I individually hand cast in porcelain and stoneware and manipulate.
This project is derived from my research on the historical and cultural implications of the ubiquitous flea markets in the compound of To-ji temple and Kitano shrine in Kyoto, that are held on specific days for receiving blessings or special divine favors from particular deities. Here, within the confluence of the sacred and profane, people practice the rituals of commerce and barter with deities. I explore the hidden commonality, whether a mystic belief, supernatural power or a superstition, that exists between traditional cultural iconography and that of pop and subculture in Japan. I question what remains within an object that makes it possible for us to recognize ourselves in it and reclaim it as part of our own identity or in a broader sense, our cultural identity.
Inoue is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work explores the commoditization of cultural values and assimilation and identity issues in the form of installation and public intervention performance art. Originally from Kyoto, Japan, Inoue earned an MFA from Hunter College. Her work has been shown at Brooklyn Museum, Sculpture Center, Rubin Museum, Momenta Art and Art in General in New York and at other international and national venues. She has received Guggenheim Fellowship, The Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant, NYFA Fellowship in Sculpture and Cross Disciplinary/Performative Work, Tides Foundation Lambent Fellowship, Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant, Franklin Furnace Fund, GAPS 9-11 Fund from LMCC and other grants. Most recently she received the Anonymous Was A Woman Award. Residencies include Skowhegan, LMCC Workspace, Smack Mellon, .ekwc in The Netherlands, Civitella Ranieri in Italy and Sacatar Foundation in Brazil. Inoue is awarded the LMCC Paris Residency at Cité Internationale des Arts from May to October, 2012.
To to Smack Mellon Gallery for more information
Link: http://smackmellon.org/
Mandala Flea Market Mutants: Pop Protocol and the Seven Transformations of Good-luck National Defense Cats takes the form of a multi-disciplinary installation that affects and aestheticize the appearances and mechanics of a marketplace, materially consisting of excessive accumulations of banal objects, commoditized sacred figures or good luck icons that I individually hand cast in porcelain and stoneware and manipulate.
This project is derived from my research on the historical and cultural implications of the ubiquitous flea markets in the compound of To-ji temple and Kitano shrine in Kyoto, that are held on specific days for receiving blessings or special divine favors from particular deities. Here, within the confluence of the sacred and profane, people practice the rituals of commerce and barter with deities. I explore the hidden commonality, whether a mystic belief, supernatural power or a superstition, that exists between traditional cultural iconography and that of pop and subculture in Japan. I question what remains within an object that makes it possible for us to recognize ourselves in it and reclaim it as part of our own identity or in a broader sense, our cultural identity.
Inoue is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work explores the commoditization of cultural values and assimilation and identity issues in the form of installation and public intervention performance art. Originally from Kyoto, Japan, Inoue earned an MFA from Hunter College. Her work has been shown at Brooklyn Museum, Sculpture Center, Rubin Museum, Momenta Art and Art in General in New York and at other international and national venues. She has received Guggenheim Fellowship, The Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant, NYFA Fellowship in Sculpture and Cross Disciplinary/Performative Work, Tides Foundation Lambent Fellowship, Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant, Franklin Furnace Fund, GAPS 9-11 Fund from LMCC and other grants. Most recently she received the Anonymous Was A Woman Award. Residencies include Skowhegan, LMCC Workspace, Smack Mellon, .ekwc in The Netherlands, Civitella Ranieri in Italy and Sacatar Foundation in Brazil. Inoue is awarded the LMCC Paris Residency at Cité Internationale des Arts from May to October, 2012.
To to Smack Mellon Gallery for more information
Link: http://smackmellon.org/
