SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLO EXHIBITION
The World's Leading Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
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The World's Leading Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
Aomi
Kikuchi
JAPAN
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“I take the Buddha's view of the world and life as the source of my inspiration.”
Aomi Kikuchi is an artist who creates sculptures, wall pieces, garments, and different objects. Through her observations, she incorporates textiles and everyday objects as materials into her innovative artwork. She holds a BFA from Kyoto University of Art & Design, Japan, and an MFA from Pratt Institute, USA. Aomi has exhibited her work throughout the world including at the Woman’s Essence Show 2023 in Berlin, the First Suzhou Craft Biennale 2021 in China, the Art Laguna 2021 in Italy, and the Art Laguna at Villa dei Cedri 2022.
I thought the Peach seeds looked like part of a woman's genitalia. And the peach skin with downy hair and its shape was like a woman's buttocks. I made this work on the theme of various abuses of female genitalia. There are many types of female genital abuse. Sometimes sand, pebbles, or glass are put into the vagina. Circumcision is often performed by grandmothers or female doctors, not by men.I express cherishing the female genitalia rather than evoke violent images and condemn them.
Kikuchi trusts in the Buddha's view and as Buddha preached, ‘By understanding and accepting the impermanence and insubstantiality of this world, we can control our attachments and cravings so that we can alleviate our suffering in this world.’ Her concept also includes the Japanese aesthetics of wabi-sabi (imperfection) and mono no aware (compassionate heart), which is deeply influenced by Buddha's philosophy. Through her artwork, she conveys that compassion is a meaningful solution to ease the craving. She focuses on personal desires and suffering, and on people and things that are forced to suffer in order to satisfy the greed of others.
morning is brush my teeth. This routine is one of the proofs that I exist in this world. The casual routine that repeats every day will come to an end someday. I made this piece in gratitude for being able to wake up in the morning and brush my teeth.
Her sculptures fall under the soft sculpture genre that emerged in the 1960s. However, in the context of sculpture in art history, she notes the similarities in her wool fiber sculptures, in their milky hue and smooth finish, to the marble sculptures that have been made since the Greek period. On the other hand, marble is a cold, hard, and heavy natural finite material that generates a large amount of dust and dirt during the manufacturing process, and once damaged, it cannot be repaired. Wool fiber sculptures are flammable and not as durable as marble sculptures, but they have a soft, warm texture and are no waste in production. Wool fiber is harvested for the health of sheep and is available in nearly limitless quantities.
“Fear and disgust are also causes of suffering. I work on finding new perspectives and turning negative emotions into positive ones to help people let go of negative emotions.”
Aomi knows that if a woolen fiber sculpture is damaged, it can be repaired. It is also possible to create a new work by returning everything to its original fiber shape. Marble sculpture was a symbol of the art world during an era of white male dominance. Her wool fiber sculptures reflect the history of art, in which artists of all races and genders entered the contemporary art world and created works with environmental and free thinking. In contrast to marble sculptures that are carved little by little, wool sculptures are made by punching wool fibers with a needle and layering them little by little. As with marble sculpture, the tools and materials required for production are simple.
“All you need to make a wool carving is a needle and wool fibers. Marble sculptures are carved using chisels and marble. The felting technique with water and soap allows the wool fiber sculpture to fix its shape, but I intentionally complete the sculpture in an unstable state. As then, my sculpture can be remade or reverted to the original fabric form.”
Her work, modeled after a life-size peach ‘Six Peaches’, deals with sexual violence against women. ‘Oiran Geta’ depicts the harsh life of a high-class courtesan who lived to satisfy the lust of men 100 years ago. In her work ‘Sneaker2022’, compared to Oiran clogs, the change in values in fashion is moving in the direction of reducing the burden on people from beauty to comfort. The work also includes the theme of the sadness of parting with something that has been familiar for many years.
Looking at the history of clothing, luxury was valued as a symbol of wealth and power rather than comfort. People have endured wearing high heels and corsets to look beautiful even though their legs and waist hurt. In modern times, the code of clothing has become much looser. In creating this work, I observed my sneaker, and was surprised to find that a single sneaker had a variety of designs as well as functionality. I think sneakers that can be stylish without pain are a good new perspective.
“Even today, materials sometimes play an important role in artworks. For an artist who is obsessed with a particular color, without that color, the work itself will not come to fruition and suffer.”
This work is modeled after the clogs worn by high-class Japanese courtesans called Oiran.
There used to be a parade called Oiran Dochu, and the total weight of the costumes worn by the Oiran at that time was over 30kg, including the 7kg high clogs. It is so heavy that a normal person cannot stand on it. Chanel liberated women from corsets and bonnets. Thanks to the efforts of her and many other pioneers, we now have the freedom to choose comfortable clothing.
In ‘Suffering Being Born-1,’ she sculpted the moment of the Moro reflex of a newborn child, with the theme of being born, one of the four major sufferings taught by Buddha. The action is as if the baby is scared to be in this world. Good Morning is modeled after her toothbrush and is an expression of her appreciation for being able to do her morning routine.
Death is one of the four inevitable sufferings that the Buddha preached. I focused on "death" among them and expressed the skull as a tofu relief. Tofu originated in China and is now widely used as a daily food in many countries. On the other hand, although death is not inevitable and can come to anyone anywhere in the world, we treat it like something special and avoid thinking about it in our daily lives. Accepting that death is part of our lives will lead us to peace of mind.
Lapis lazuli was the most expensive art material in the world, available only to a handful of artists, and painted the Divine Virgin Mary. She also used her desired materials and tools in her dyed artwork but experienced the disappearance of some crucial materials and tools due to the decline of the dyeing industry in Japan. The concept of multidisciplinary art pushed her into her current activities as a multidisciplinary artist who does not specialize in tools and materials in one genre.
Given the differences in race and gender, I realized that if we remove the skin and muscles from the human body, we all have the same ivory bones. And when I put long hair on the skull, it looked like a woman to me. We feel like we see reality as it is, but we are often influenced by prejudice that our brain derives from experience.
Recognizing this will lead to awareness of various contradictions in modern society, and will lead to the realization of a better society.
Observing various materials around her and using them, Aomi tries to create innovative wall pieces, garments, and objects based on her concepts. Commanding her accumulated knowledge about various craft techniques covering dressmaking, yuzen kimono dyeing, Japanese embroidery, and weaving cultivated over 40 years, she works being freed from conventional consent. The choice of materials is based on the care about the impact on our environment.
In Japan, there is a custom to keep part of the umbilical cord in a paulownia box as a symbol of the bond between mother and child. The placenta and umbilical cord are lifelines for the fetus, and after they have completed their function, they are separated from the uterus and expelled with the baby. It can be said to be a symbol of unconditional love, and I can see the merciful love that Buddha preached there.
“In ‘Suffering Tofu’ I put tofu and skull reliefs formed from cotton fibers into the tofu maker, suggesting that death is as common as everyday food like tofu.”
The bosom functions biologically only during lactation, but its body parts continue to be a symbol of women from puberty to death. The breast is one of the most cancer-prone areas for women. For those with a female body and a male mind, swelling of the breast causes pain, and for those with a male body and a female mind, even an artificial breast seems to be a joy. However, if you peel off the skin and lose muscle, everyone is a white bone skeleton regardless of gender or race.
In today's world where the earth's finite resources and the garbage produced by mankind are becoming a major issue, the fact that artists should also think about the environmental impact that their works create is a major motivation for her present creative discipline. Her work, Woman2022, in which a skull is woven from wires and planted with fake hair, explores the deep-seated prejudice of thinking that just because she has long hair, it is the skeleton of a woman.
The reticulated glands of the spider web look like blood vessels that carry nutrients to the nipples.When breastfeeding, the behavior of touching and sucking the nipple is repeated many times. This is an important intimacy between mother and baby. The mother's blood is converted to milk in the mammary glands.It's the same as giving blood.The mother bets her life on giving birth to a baby and generously gives her blood. I think this act is the deepest mercy of love that the Buddha preaches.
In ‘Shed Bosom,’ she put bra pads and knitted them with mohair yarn in the shape of a bra top, and considered the pain caused by the breasts, which should only function to feed the infant. At ‘Navel Code,’ she weaved wire into the shape of the newborn's body and used synthetic fibers to lace the shape of the placenta and umbilical tail to connect it to the newborn. Her theme was about the compassionate love of the placenta and umbilical tail, beings that continue to feed the fetus and are thrown away without any thanks. Bosom lotus uses mohair yarn lace on the bra pad like mammary glands, and modeled the hand of an infant with the hand of my grandson, using wool fibers to express a mother's unconditional love and intimacy with an infant.
The main sufferings in life that the Buddha preaches are birth, aging, illness, and death.
Birth is blessed by parents and others. However, if you are not born, you will not experience aging, illness, or death. Being born is the beginning of experiencing suffering.
Not being able to get something you want can also cause suffering.By recognizing that life is more likely to experience suffering, if we can alleviate our desires a little, we may be able to live comfortably.