KOSAKU KANECHIKA is pleased to present Junko Oki’s solo exhibition “Yobitsugi,” from June 5 to July 10, 2021.

 

Through unique embroidery and careful attention, Junko Oki inserts new life into aged textiles and instruments. These objects, with years-worth of stories already engraved into them, are revived by Oki’s hand through a series of attentive stitches. In the artist’s solo exhibition “anthology” in the tearoom space of the Hagi Uragami Museum up to spring 2021, Oki presented an installation work including seven-thousand spools of thread gathered from throughout Japan. Each spool of thread, suspended in time since its last moment in use, was revitalized by Oki and resumed its existence within the exhibition space.

 

Oki’s new solo exhibition, entitled “Yobitsugi,” will present modified versions of works exhibited in “anthology” along with new, previously unexhibited artworks. In regard to the exhibition, the artist makes this statement:

 

This summer, I’ve been given an opportunity to exhibit once again the works that featured in my yearlong solo exhibition in the tearoom of the Hagi Uragami Museum in Yamaguchi, Japan.
As I looked upon the works which were returned to me after one memorable year, I began to want to add new impressions of time onto them. The thought of what would become of these works once I cut into them and added new stitches possessed me until I had actually materialized the idea.
Once revitalized, the works appeared as if their new and old lives were intertwined. Seeing the result freed me to walk forward afresh.

 

‘Yobitsugi’ is a traditional Japanese ceramic technique in which pieces of broken vessels found in the ruins of old potteries are patched together to create new work. Oki’s works, which endeavor to discover new horizons through layered impressions of time, radiate a powerful vitality, boosted by their benevolent energy and solemn tranquility.

 

“Yobitsugi,” representing something of a sequel to the artist’s exhibition “anthology,” will carry the narrative spun in the last exhibition on to a new being.

 

---

General information

Exhibition
Junko Oki "Yobitsugi"

Dates
June 5, 2021 - July 10, 2021

Hours
11 am - 6 pm
Closed on Sun, Mon and National Holidays

Location
KOSAKU KANECHIKA
TERRADA Art Complex 5F
1-33-10 Higashi-Shinagawa
Shinagawa-ku
Tokyo
140-0002
+81(0)3-6712-3346
kosakukanechika.com

Free admission

---

Junko Oki

Junko Oki was born in Urawa City, Japan in 1963 and is currently based in Kamakura. Oki’s major solo exhibitions include “Recycle” (ARTS & SCIENCE Aoyama, Tokyo, 2009), “gris gris” (DEE’S HALL, Tokyo, 2016), “Moon and chrysalis” (Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, 2017), “Junko Oki” (2017) / “Truly Indispensable” (Office Baroque, Brussels, 2019), and “anthology” (Hagi Uragami Museum, Yamaguchi, 2020). Her works were also featured in group exhibitions “Nous–sewing and living” (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2016), the 2018 Yamagata Biennale (Bunshokan, Yamagata, 2018), and “Where We Now Stand–In Order to Map the Future [2]” (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2019). Her art book “PUNK” was published by Bungei Shunju in 2014. Okiʼs artworks have been acquired by the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. “Yobitsugi” will be the artist’s fourth exhibition at KOSAKU KANECHIKA, following her 2020 solo exhibition.