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Exhibition 疊藝術展覽

「蔗迴」Yuka Otani個展

"C12H22O11 — A Journey around Sucrose" Yuka Otani Solo Exhibition

展期 | 2017 / 6 / 10 - 7 / 23
地點 | Telling Arts | 疊藝術 台北市光復南路415巷40號
開放時間 | 星期一至日,下午1時至8時

Yuka Otani出生於日本東京,畢業於東京多摩美術大學工藝設計系 (B.F.A., Tama Art University) ,隨後取得美國羅德島設計學院榮譽碩士學位 (M.F.A. with honors, Rhode Island School of Design),曾獲廣島市現代美術館廣島東方酒店獎/觀眾獎 (2013)、Andy Warhol基金會藝術寫作者補助計畫 (2009) 等國際藝術機構肯定,作品榮獲美國玻璃博物館 (The Museum of American Glass) 典藏 。Yuka Otani多次於北美洲、歐洲、亞洲各地展出作品,近期重要個展和聯展包括受到國際策展團隊“Hyperopia Projects”邀請參加比利時博物館之展覽 “Whereabouts” (2016) 、“BEST IF USED BY”於休士頓當代工藝中心 (2016) 、“Quotidiaen”於加州CelerySpace Gallery (2014)、“Vitreous”於日本廣島Oriental Design Gallery (2014)、“Study for Hojoki”於紐約布魯克林Camel Project Space (2012) 。

Yuka Otani的創作關注透明物質本身的獨特性,長期鑽研多變且難以捉摸,隨時間和溫度而改變的過程與狀態。透過純藝術創作、設計與科學的跨領域融合,由玻璃工藝發展到近期以糖的物質轉化作為敘事媒介,探討日常與無常、過去與現在、真實與再現。

此展覽為Yuka Otani在台的首次個展,展出作品源自2015-2017年於高雄橋仔頭糖廠和駁二駐村期間,針對當地早年以蔗糖為主要農作物和貿易商品,具有百年歷史的製糖產業文化,賦予新的詮釋和意涵。Yuka Otani支配糖墨創作絹印版畫,《重現鄉愁:蔗農》(Rediscovering Nostalgia : Sugarcane Farmers) 將農人肖像納入畫面,樸拙中帶有尊榮形象,《顯現》(Emergence) 以高雄港景和船艦隱喻產業興衰和社會變遷; 現場放映錄像作品 《甘蔗的回憶》(Memories of Sugar Cane) ,運用舊時代aburidashi炙烤技法,一字一句浮現在白紙上,喚醒腦海中被遺忘的歷史,提煉艱苦歲月中平凡而踏實的記憶。 

Yuka Otani裝置系列作品則是慾望的載體,也是矛盾的載體。《輪迴》(Anicca) 由小型佛陀雕像、鏡面、燈光裝置所組成,佛陀坐禪冥想的姿勢透露對平和寧靜的嚮往,同時以誘人糖衣包裹刺激觀者的感官,映照內心慾念 ;《Quiero Caramelos》(I want Candy) 為裝置在燈箱上的手槍向玻璃裝置藝術家Silvia Levenson致敬,Yuka Otani藉由糖製成透明如玻璃的作品,表達生活在虛幻的表象下,手槍像是玩具也能作為致命武器。其作品涵蓋物理、哲學及精神性,暗藏脆弱不安的生命和流轉無常的人生觀。

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Yuka Otani completed her bachelor’s decree (craft design) in Tama Art University in 2000. She later received her M.F.A. with honors from Rhode Island School of Design in 2008. Her outstanding performance has made her the winner of the Oriental Hotel Hiroshima Prize/Audience’s Prize (Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art) in 2013, and the Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program in 2009. Her works are in the collections of the Museum of American Glass in Millville, New Jersey. Yuka Otani had numerous exhibitions across the United States, Europe and Asia, including joint exhibition ‘Whereabouts’ (2016, curated by Hyperopia Projects) at the glass museum GlazenHuis in lommel, Belgium, ‘BEST IF USED BY’ (2016) at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in Houston, Texas, ‘Quotidiaen’ (2014) at CelerySpace Gallery in Berkeley, California, and her solo exhibitions ‘Vitreous’ (2014) at Oriental Design Gallery in Hiroshima, Japan, ‘Study for Hojoki’ (2012) at Camel Project Space in Brooklyn, New York.

Yuka Otani’s creation is focused on the distinctness of a transparent material which the artist has studied meticulously. The material has a changeable characteristic and unstable to predictable processes and life cycle. In her art creation, Otani also demonstrated the changes in time and temperature, while exploring constancy and inconstancy, past and present as well as reality and representation through a creative fusion across different fields like art, design and science, using glass as a medium along with sugar in expressing a narrative art form.

For her art exhibition, Yuka Otani took inspiration from the 100-year history of the sugar industry, specifically Kio-A-Thau Sugar Refinery and Pier-2 Artist Center from 2015 to 2017. Yuka Otani’s silkscreen combining sugar and ink, entitled “Rediscovering Nostalgia”, incorporates the concept of agriculture into the artwork to symbolize honor, simplicity and sincerity. The artwork “Emergence” depicts the Kaohsiung Harbor and a vessel through a metaphor showing industrial prosperity and decline and social change. The video installation piece “Memories of Sugar Cane” shows the aburidashi printing techniques in the old days, described in words written on paper that recall true, poignant memories during those hard times. 

A sitting Buddha in meditation demonstrates peace and tranquility of the mind. The artwork is rendered using a special sugar coating that stimulates the senses, igniting the viewer’s interest. “Quiero Caramelos” (I want Candy) is a rollover gun work using lightbox. It pays tribute to the glass installation artist Silvia Levenson. The artwork depicts a world of illusion that portrays gun not only as a toy, but also as a weapon. Yuka Otani’s works involve the subject of philosophy and spirituality, rendered using common physical properties and characteristics of sugar and glass to express the fragility of life and the flow of impermanence.

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