Yu Hanabusa: Garden Making

June 11 - July 6, 2019

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   Art-U room is delighted to present “Garden Making,” a solo exhibition of the latest paintings by Yu Hanabusa.

 

   The title of this exhibition, “Garden Making,” is a theme Hanabusa has been working on in recent years in which she attempts to turn the exhibition space itself into an imaginary space by laying out her paintings in the same way a gardener designs a garden. In this project, which started with an exhibition in the Japanese-style Hall at the Kyoto Art Center after the artist’s return to Japan from a residency in Thailand, Hanabusa reconfigures the indoor exhibition space while taking into consideration the orientation and height of the viewer’s perspective when arrangingtableaus depicting outdoor objects, such as stone lanterns and garden plants.

 

   Here, Hanabusa presents some fifteen new paintings, including works modeled on the arrangement of plants on the premises of the ancient Futaiji Temple in Nara, flower offerings (kyoka),that have as their motif the floral decorations given as offerings at Buddhist temples in Thailand, and the Wakwak Tree series she began in the early 2000s that is based on legends of trees that bear people instead of fruit. This group of densely-executed works, in which the artist has carefully applied coat after coat of paint, one brush stroke at a time, conveys the sense of powerful, tenacious life that is produced by nature and by the accumulation of day-to-day human activity. This is Hanabusa’s first solo exhibition at Art-U room in four years.

 

 

■ Yu Hanabusa

  Born in Kyoto in 1973. Graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts in 1996 (B.A. in Painting). Studied at Fashion & Textiles course in Royal Collage of Art, London the same year. Received M.A. in Painting from Kyoto City University of Arts in 1998. Solo exhibition 'project N' at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, 2002. Exhibited in 'VOCA – The Vision of Contemporary Art 2003' at the Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, 2003. Stayed in Chiang Mai 2004-2005 under the Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists by Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan. Stayed in Bangkok 2007-2009 as an artist-in-residence at Silpakorn University. Received Grants from Pola Art Foundation and stayed in Bangkok in 2009. Won ‘Kyoto City Artistic New Comer Award’ in 2011. Currently lives in Nara.
 

Artist’s website:

http://mccullypon.wakwakforest.com/

 

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● Date: June 11- July 6, 2019

     Opening hours: Tue.-Sat. 12:00-18:00. / closed on Mon. & Sun.

● The artist will be present in the gallery on July 6.

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[ Press Release (PDF) ]