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March 6 - April 3, 2009

Listen to Utopia

Yoshiko Kanai (Brooklyn, NY)

Part of SPACElab

Listen to Utopia

  Yoshiko Kanai |

Listen to Utopia

  Yoshiko Kanai |

Listen to Utopia

  Yoshiko Kanai |

This installation explores emotions connected to the familial archetype and the inevitability of change experienced in the life of an immigrant.

"Listen to Utopia"
If the garden of Eden was made by a god, the idea of Utopia was constructed by humanity. "Utopia" was named by Thomas More as a perfect place. As such it is the focus of spiritual and political yearning. We dreamed about Utopia but in reality we can't hold on to what it offers. Dreaming of a utopia is to give us energy going forward in our lives. Yoshiko, an immigrant, says that many people who came to America had some idea of utopia, but as we hurry through life perhaps we forget the dream of our "Utopia". I fantasized that through my work we can once again listen to sounds from the idea of utopia.

Yoshiko wanted to use sculptural installation and processes to effect change and sound. She suspended a number of cast plaster forms that symbolized imaginary utopian cities and landscapes. These forms hold water and contain pigments. Evaporation of water made colors slowly shift through tints and migrate to the surface. For me the movement of water = movement of the spirit and colors rising up through the work suggested the transformation from dull matter to the ideal.

Regarding sound, water dripping into metal containers made sounds. Sounds were also heard from the video at the water front of the East River. Yoshiko felt that these sounds which were connected to water would physically remind us of the reality of our lives.

About the Artist

Yoshiko Kanai

Yoshiko KanaiI was born in Japan and graduated from Tama Art University, Tokyo, B.A. Design, 1982; M.F.A. 1984. Yoshiko attended Skowhegan Painters and Sculptors School, Maine, 1996. Presently she lives and works in Brooklyn, N.Y. Selected exhibitions"Nation IV", Sideshow.Gallery, Brooklyn, N.Y. 2016"Unhinged" Pierogi, Brooklyn, N.Y. 2013 "Light at the end of... go to artist page

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