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Past Exhibition |
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It’s a Beautiful Day
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Curators:
Paul Laster and Renée Riccardo
Artists:
Satoru Eguchi, Misaki Kawai,
Min Kim, Margaret Lee,
Charlene Liu, Koji Shimizu,
Saeko Takagi, Mie Yim
On view from January 6 thru February 25, 2006
Opening :
Friday, January 6, 6-8pm
Curator’s Talk :
Friday, February 3, 6-8pm
Venue :
Ise Cultural Foundation Gallery, 555 Broadway,
Basement Floor, New York, NY 10012
[Between Prince/ Spring Sts.]
Gallery
Hours:
Tuesday through Saturday, 11- 6 p.m.
Closed on Mondays. Sundays by appointment.
Admission Policy:
Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.
Image:
Margaret Lee, Love Rock, 2004, Colored Pencil on paper, 24 x 18 in.
ISE CULTURAL FOUNDATION is pleased to present the exhibition It’s a Beautiful Day, curated by Paul Laster and Renée Riccardo.
The show features paintings by Saeko Takagi and Mie Yim, works on paper by Min Kim, Margaret Lee and Charlene Liu, sculptures
by Misaki Kawai and Koji Shimizu, and photography by Satoru Eguchi, who is also represented by a sculpture in the window space
of 555 Broadway.
It’s a Beautiful Day presents a view of the world as seen with a certain sense of innocence, wonderment, and
nostalgia. In a time of constant change and uncertainty, these artists attempt to sort out peaceful moments in an anxious world.
Saeko Takagi paints sensual images of people, animals, and nature while blurring the boundary between abstraction and representation.
New York Times critic Roberta Smith recently wrote that her figures “evoke faded photos from a lost era.” Mie Yim takes us back
to an age of innocence with her paintings filled with pastel-colored, fuzzy, stuffed animals. Though the subjects appear to be
sweet and innocent, their interaction reflects a darker paradise.h
Min Kim’s works on paper present young girls encompassed by nature—an idyllic, imagined realm from an adolescent’s point of view.
Margaret Lee’s colored pencil drawings present scenes from a teenage past, where lovers and revelers mark nature with irreverent
comments and romantic desires. Charlene Liu’s elaborate watercolors depict overgrown pastoral landscapes with abandoned cars,
building rubble, rocks, flowers, billowing clouds, and flying insects.
Inspired by handmade dolls and low-quality manufactured objects found in the Far East, Misaki Kawai makes sculptures that reflect
the playfulness of a teenager, with characters that reference a fairy-tale view of the ‘60s. Koji Shimizu retreats into the mind
of his cat to create a colorful sculptural installation, which resembles a pet’s jungle gym.
Satoru Eguchi deconstructs travel photographs that he has shot in various locations around the world by cutting them into swirling
abstractions—networks of colorful lines that recall the past as a dream-like memory. In the window space of 555 Broadway, Eguchi
exhibits a hanging, sculptural assemblage—a giant shopping bag humorously made from a patchwork of ubiquitous plastic bags.
Together, these eight artists question the world that they inhabit while creating visual spaces for an escape of the everyday.
This exhibition is part of the ISE Cultural Foundation’s Program for Emerging Curators. Please contact Ise Cultural Foundation
Gallery for further information.
About the curators –Paul Laster and Renée Riccardo
Paul Laster is an editor at Art Asia Pacific, Artkrush.com and Boldtype.com. Renée Riccardo is independent curator who founded ARENA,
a gallery exhibiting emerging artists from 1991-2003. Laster and Riccardo are former Adjunct Curators of Photography at P.S.1.
Their recent shows include Word at the Bronx River Arts Center and Me, Myself & I at Florida Atlantic University Gallery, Boca Raton.
Their next show, Emotional Landscape, opens on January 18, 2006 at the Rotunda Gallery in Brooklyn.
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