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FRAMES

In this series, I am attempting to frame space within the traditional format of western portrait and landscape to bring a heightened awareness of space. The works in this series are made from beam levels to represent a moment of alignment and engagement with space. When I gaze at the spaces within the frames, at different times of the day, I can feel my energy begin to shift. The shadows that cast over the frames in sunlight or moonlight, have an effect similar to an approaching eclipse. The colour shadows that appear on the wall have an aura all their own, drawing me close and making me feel connected to my surroundings.(read more)


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MU: BEYOND DUALITY

In the contemporary era of divisive politics and fake news, going beyond binary positions is more important than ever. The Buddhist concept of 'mu' is a useful reminder. Mu recognizes that there is no definitive right or wrong, true or false, or good or bad. These are positions of polarity dependent on both time and space, history and contexts. These sculptures can be used as tools for meditation to strive for what Zen Buddhists call nothingness - a point of transcendence.

ART BEATUS GALLERY (VANCOUVER, BC) Sept 15 - Nov 10, 2017


LEVELS

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LEVELS
LEVELS
LEVELS
LEVELS
LEVELS

NAKANOJO BIENNALE, JAPAN 2019

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NAKANOJO BIENNALE, JAPAN 2019
NAKANOJO BIENNALE, JAPAN 2019
NAKANOJO BIENNALE, JAPAN 2019
NAKANOJO BIENNALE, JAPAN 2019
NAKANOJO BIENNALE, JAPAN 2019

LAND ART MONGOLIA

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LAND ART MONGOLIA
LAND ART MONGOLIA
LAND ART MONGOLIA
LAND ART MONGOLIA
LAND ART MONGOLIA

The purpose of the installation is to open up conversations about the relationship between 'human' and 'nature' in our contemporary context of globalization. More specifically, this installation surfaces questions about being 'balanced' in the age of the Anthropocene. It also throws into question how we can strike a 'balance', or more colloquially, 'level the playing field', whilst preserving a moral ecology that attends to the complexities and contradictions inherent in our relationship with 'nature'. Ultimately, this installation hopes to yield insights to address the theme of the 5th Land Art Mongolia Biennale, "Who are we now?"

Land Scale is an installation which takes its inspiration from a quotidian tool in carpentry known a spirit level. This level serves as a metaphor for 'balance', both conceptually and materially. It is represented as a long cylindrical container filled with just enough coloured fluid to allow the water to level itself horizontally in relation to the land. With Murum Sum / Khentii Aimag in the background, the installation will function as a barometer of balance between humanity and nature and generate meaningful conversations about a topic that is more important now than ever before in human history.

Text by Maki Iwase

Curated by Lewis Biggs

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.



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10th MILDURA PALIMPSEST BIENNALE, AUSTRALIA 2015

Lunette-ki

Inspired by the Lunette of Mungo, the trees and energy (both meaning 'ki', in Japanese) along the Murray River, and the intercultural histories across geographies, this installation brings together ideas, materials and hybrid subjectivities that traverse time and space.

Eggshells, Fallen branches. These are things in our everday world that are typically considered disposible, having little use or value. When we regard them as such, they have a tendency to fade and even disappear from our collective consciousness, rendering them invisible. Yet, when we bring these substances in an unlikely and incommensurable way in the form of art, a transformation occurs in our consciousness that renders such things visible by actively inviting reflection, generating insight, and opening up possibilities to image Other-wise. This transformative reversal is precisely what this installation attempts to accomplish.

In keeping with the theme of this year's biennale: 'Everywhere all at once...here', the intention of Junichiro's aesthetic intervention is to promote ways in which we can re- imagine everyday, taken-for-granted things that are 'everywhere all at once' and meditate on them 'here' in order to expand our horizon of understanding of who we are, how we engage with objects and Others, and what we are becoming.

This installation is interactive in the sense that it invites self-reflexivity and opens up the possibility for multiple conversations. It calls upon the viewer on the outside looking inside to reflect upon their social location, history, culture and the broader context that inform the interpretation and significance of the artwork. Calling attention to the glass atrium, the audience is asked to conceptualize the glass as a metaphor for the ideological lens through which one views the artwork. How might our tacit assumptions and presuppositions colour the way in which we make sense of the art before us? And how might this interpretation, in turn, reconfigure how we understand ourselves, our relations to objects and Others, and the broader forces that shape our shared existence?

On a much wider and abstract level, this installation seeks to blur the distinction between insider-outsider relations and examine the subtle forms of inclusionary and exclusionary practices that constitute the resonance and dissonance within intercultural spaces. The following Indigenous chant brings us closer to reconciling such tensions and open up the possibility of a shared humanity:

Let us see in the Real, Let us see in the Real, This life we are living.

Text by Maki Iwase

Curated by Jonathan Kimberley

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10th MILDURA PALIMPSEST BIENNALE, AUSTRALIA 2015
10th MILDURA PALIMPSEST BIENNALE, AUSTRALIA 2015
10th MILDURA PALIMPSEST BIENNALE, AUSTRALIA 2015
10th MILDURA PALIMPSEST BIENNALE, AUSTRALIA 2015
10th MILDURA PALIMPSEST BIENNALE, AUSTRALIA 2015

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE - BEIJING 2013

EGG ROOM, Site specific installation at Red Gate International Residency
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ARTIST IN RESIDENCE - BEIJING 2013
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE - BEIJING 2013
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE - BEIJING 2013
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE - BEIJING 2013
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE - BEIJING 2013

NIKKEI NATIONAL MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTRE, 2013

Two person exhibition with Jeremy Isao Speier
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NIKKEI NATIONAL MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTRE, 2013
NIKKEI NATIONAL MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTRE, 2013
NIKKEI NATIONAL MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTRE, 2013
NIKKEI NATIONAL MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTRE, 2013
NIKKEI NATIONAL MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTRE, 2013

Double Zero: The Point Between Future Past

Nikkei National Museum, June 13-September 1, 2013.

Curated by Beth Carter

We acknowledge the support of the Province of British Columbia, Yoshiko Karasawa and the Deux Mille Foundation


JAPAN CONTEMPORARY PRINTS, SIPPA 2005

Hangaram Art Museum / Seoul Arts Center

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JAPAN CONTEMPORARY PRINTS, SIPPA 2005
JAPAN CONTEMPORARY PRINTS, SIPPA 2005
JAPAN CONTEMPORARY PRINTS, SIPPA 2005
JAPAN CONTEMPORARY PRINTS, SIPPA 2005
JAPAN CONTEMPORARY PRINTS, SIPPA 2005

SICK IN JAPAN PAINTINGS 2006

Two person exhibition with Akiko Ikeuchi

Gallery 21yo-j, Tokyo, Japan

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SICK IN JAPAN PAINTINGS 2006
SICK IN JAPAN PAINTINGS 2006

EARLY SCULPTURES 1990 - 1996

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EARLY SCULPTURES 1990 - 1996
EARLY SCULPTURES 1990 - 1996
EARLY SCULPTURES 1990 - 1996
EARLY SCULPTURES 1990 - 1996
EARLY SCULPTURES 1990 - 1996
 
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