Well-known Itoshima artist-run gallery, studio and residency program Studio Kura will host an exhibition featuring the work of international artists. This time’s exhibition will feature works by nine artists.
• 11/26 (Sat.), 11/27 (Sun.)
• Artist Talk: 11/26 (Sat.) 14:30~
• 11:00~17:00
• Free entry
• Studio Kura
• 586 Nijo-masue, Itoshima City, Fukuoka
• 092-325-1773
• https://studiokura.info/en/
01. Merijn Haenen (Holland)
“Snippets (from Japan)” / Exhibition style: Installation
During the residency Merijn Haenen, with a background as a graphic designer, got inspired by Japanese packaging design. The language is, for him, a nicely orchestrated composition of shapes. He made 50 small ‘card size’ framed works, forming a visual diary of the two-month period Merijn spent in Japan. Small printed paper cuttings composed between two pieces of plastic show memories such as the receipt of a super spicy bowl of ramen he ate, the genius wrapping of an onigiri, or pikachu on a boarding pass for a flight to Okinawa. Each card is kept saved as a collectible in its custom box. Added to each card, are small plastic souvenirs washed ashore after being polished by the sea.
02. Beatriz Yu (Philippines)
“Akai Ito” / Exhibition style: Drawings
Beatriz Yu / Bady is a self-taught pen & ink artist based in Manila, Philippines.
It is a famous belief in east Asian culture that people are bound to have a red string of fate tied on their fingers together. For this exhibition, Bea explored the idea of “Connection” as my final output to conclude my stay here in Studio Kura. Bea’s goal for this residency was to observe Japanese culture focusing on Yōkai and patterns and draw inspiration from them as her art is heavily focused on the use of patterns as she forms surreal creatures from the inner world of her mind.“During my stay in Kura, I was blessed with the opportunity to meet loads of amazing people who journeyed with me in this residency, filling it with amazing memories. I used these memories, connected them with things I’ve observed within the country, and turned them into my own Yōkai – With each Yōkai containing a memorable story. Then by connecting these memories with a red string, I believe that every memory formed here was meant to happen, forming amazing bonds we will remember forever.”
03. Lauren Prousky (Canada)
“Questions for a prebiotic broth” / Exhibition style: Illustrations
Lauren Prousky is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and curator in Ontario, Canada. Her artwork spans a variety of topics and mediums, and she’s usually bouncing between a few different projects at once. Each piece brings together natural and unnatural materials, emphasizing fabricated connectivity and the hardening of something once soft and soupy. My goal is to create evolving recipes using unlikely ingredients. I hope they exude their generative reactions that move towards kinship and convergence against all odds.
04. Rio Noir (USA)
“Dokyumentomōmento” Visuals and Prototypes / Exhibition style: Installation
“Dokyumentomōmento” Visuals and Prototypes / Exhibition style: Installation
Rio Noir is a contemporary artist, photographer, and videographer in Los Angeles, California. Dokyumentomōmento is a series of multidisciplinary mediums exploring digital and physical space. During the first two weeks of my stay, I filmed different moments in Itoshima and cut them into a stylized storytelling format. Although these stories (episodes) were short-formed, my main focus was to make them digestible. Something that the viewer can re-watch and ‘find something new about the video every time. Conceptually each episode originates from a personal experience in Fukuoka, some of which revolve around characters (locals) and landscapes that ultimately encapsulate a small slice of what Japan has to offer. This process of creating visuals organically evolved into experimenting with the creation of physical prototypes. The seven items featured reflect different moments I’ve experienced during my stay – mediums including yarn, spray paint, acrylic, & rope.
05. De FeniXx (Mexico)
“Winds of Autumn” / Exhibition style: Digital Drawing
De FeniXx is a digital illustrator and character designer from Mexico. He recently graduated from 3Dsense media school in Singapore and has worked as a freelance illustrator for several years with international clients. Winds of Autumn is De FeniXx’s first physical exhibition and consist solely of autumn theme digital illustrations inspired by the visual culture and costumes of traditional Japan and Korea. Influnciated from a young age by these Asian aesthetics. FeniXx took the recent experiences of his trips and residences in these countries to absorb and integrate the visual language and style into his own. And create new illustrations to show the unique nature, landscapes, and costumes with the colors of the changing season. Taking his character focus illustrations from their usual medieval fantasy style to a new Asian world that takes elements from these ancient cultures and recreates them with modern digital tools and aesthetics as popular in the modern Japanese and Korean video games industry.
06. Jikke Lesterhuis (Holland)
“Silent Frequencies （サイレント周波数）” / Exhibition style: Animation
Jikke Lesterhuis (1997) is a visual storyteller from Amsterdam. She mainly uses animation and illustration to turn invisible stories into something tangible. Silent Frequencies (サイレント周波数) is a multimedia project in which animation, sound, and words come together in a short film. It is an exploration of the interaction between man and nature. The short animation pays homage to moss, a beautiful natural phenomenon often considered a weed in Europe but worshiped in Japan. This allows the mosses to roam freely, resulting in an enchanting green carpet that rolls through nature like an airstrip. The poem in the film is inspired by ancient Japanese poetry (waka) and takes the viewer on a journey in which man and nature meet. The soundscape consists largely of field recordings made in the Itoshima area. Jikke Lesterhuis was inspired by the animistic environment and how man and nature are inextricably linked.
07. Michelle Eismann (Sweden)
“Perceptions of Comfort” / Exhibition style: Installation
Michelle Eismann is an artist based in Stockholm, Sweden. She works with mirrors, illustrations and as a film director.
08. Samuel Bestwick (UK)
“Untitled.” / Exhibition style: Painting
Samuel Bestwick is an artist and filmmaker based in Cornwall, UK. While in residency, Samuel Bestwick has taken a purposeful retreat from his usual film-based practice; instead, he’s been focusing on developing his observational drawing skills. The subject and inspiration for these sketches originate from his time spent traveling Japan and Itoshima’s surrounding landscape. Though viewable as evidence of his time here, the displayed works ultimately highlight the joy found in drawing and the process it entails.
09. Erlend Cross (Australia)
“Shadow of the Valley” / Exhibition style: Painting
Erlend Cross is an abstract artist based in Perth, Western Australia. His education in human geography and philosophy from King’s College London directs his artistic focus to human-environment relationships.
