| When I heard that Kasumi Ito was going to have a solo exhibition at NODA CONTEMPORARY, I was both happy and surprised.
Last May, she had her first solo exhibition at Gallery K, and it was so impressive that I immediately had the urge to write a critique of it for the Italian contemporary art magazine “Flash Art International,” and I took a picture of the exhibition on the spot. I sent the photo to an editor, and he replied “[The artist] is only 22?! How young!” and requested that I contribute the article to the magazine. The review was published in the July-September 2007 issue of the magazine.
It is organized in such a way that if you saw only the picture, then you wouldn’t think that it was a young artist’s first solo exhibition. For there was a grandness to it, and even more, there was the uniqueness of the works’ shapes that gave the exhibition its strong appeal. She has made six fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) bodies, modeled after deer, all taken from the same mold. Forming a hexagon, these strange, headless animals are shown chasing after each other’s tails in the bed of the gallery. The fur of rabbits, cattle, and gazelles are attached to each of their backs. It’s entitled “Wild Circle.” According to Ms. Ito, the reason why the animals don’t have heads is “to not only have individual animals, but to be able to see them as one whole.” The individual and the whole, the natural and the artificial, man and machine. There’s even cloning, tissue engineering, life science… I’m guessing that she herself hasn’t thought that far about this, but the works really bring deep symbolism to the viewer. But that’s because those “symbols” were geometrically prepared by a perfect mold.
In general, why is a person able to do such a high level job at their first solo exhibition? This is the beginning, but has she already become the success found at the end? I looked through her portfolio, but there really wasn’t anything notable. It seems to come from an interest in animals and nature.
Chance has led to the realization of this exhibition. Miraculously, it hasn’t even been one year since her first solo exhibition, yet she has already taken the opportunity to do a solo exhibition in a different big city. I can’t help being surprised by how blessed an artist Ms. Ito is.
In our country, from the first solo exhibition at a rental gallery to the time they are found by a gallery and exhibitions are planned, young artists have to live in hardship. But if their artworks are superior, then afterwards they have the problem of encountering the person who understands the work. But where is that place of encounter? It’s not at the auction houses nor at the opening party of a foreigner’s prominent art gallery. There’s no way for a nameless artist to get into places like that. Surprisingly, in Ito’s case, it was the rental gallery.
Earlier this year, Ms. Ito had a solo exhibition from the end of January to February at the same gallery that she had her first show, and she exhibited a group of tanuki (raccoon dog) models that are wrapped in scraps of old clothing. I wonder what will appear at the gallery in Nagoya!
Ms. Ito’s exhibition, along with being a place where art is appreciated, is a place where we can witness an excellent example in which a young artist in Japan is recognized by the world. With these artworks I wish to experience hope.
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