Yoko Inoue

Artist in Residence: March 5-May 12, 2017
Opening Reception: May 5, 6PM - 9PM
On View: May 5 - June 30, 2017
Public Presentation: May 11,6PM -8PM

Photo Catalogue Video Catalogue

Yoko Inoue (Brooklyn, NY) will be researching the Japanese Art collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, focusing on how Japanese aesthetics and cultural iconography was integrated into the American economy. Exploring the Museum's archives pertaining to former director Sherman Emory Lee, she will examine his pivotal role in the inspection and protection of Japanese artifacts and cultural properties as a "Monuments Man" in Japan during the post-war US occupation and its "democratization" process for the country.

For her installation at SPACES, Tea Taste Democracy and Upside down Objects, Inoue will create works that examine Lee's understanding of Japanese cultural identity that he developed through his relationship with Japanese scholars. The installation will simultaneously try to put in context the socio-political condition of the time in which he conducted his extensive field research.

After World War II Americans were presented with two different versions of what constituted Japanese aesthetics and culture, one through scholarship and understanding, and the other through commerce and misunderstanding.

As a counterpoint to her investigation of the introduction of Japanese high culture to Cleveland audiences, Inoue will also introduce her ideas regarding imported kitsch figurines that were stamped "made in occupied Japan" and widely marketed to the middle class in America as home d