Exhibition/event has ended.

Ruriko Murayama "Color and Cloak"

Yamamoto Gendai
Finished

Artists

Ruriko Murayama
Yamamoto Gendai presents new sculptures and cloth works by Ruriko Murayama.

Her "cloaks" seem at first glance to be just draped black cloth hanging downwards, but closer inspection reveals beads, ribbons, artificial flowers, spangles and buttons in various colors, textures and shapes buried within.

Cloaks have long been used all around the world as a garment for protecting against the cold. Thereafter, it came to be associated with luxury and a display of power, and incorporated into the fashion world. Today this garment is closely associated with superheroes, valiant warriors, weirdoes, brigands, magicians, vampires and other outlandish figures. Murayama's cloaks are objects whose owners seem to have died; abandoned, a coat of moss creeps over them. The jet black and velvet underside and the riot of color they conceal add a further layer of both beauty and mystery.

Murayama's cloth works, on the other hand, use chemical dyes to color silk fabrics, which are then shredded and sewn into square pieces of cloth measuring 4.5 meters across. These are actually comprised of up to 7000 cloth fragments. The clashing colors paralyze the viewer's ability to digest and comprehend this visual information, confusing the brain and even halting its operations.

Of her own work, Murayama has said that she attempts to "reach a sort of degree zero through excessive ornamentation." While her works maintain a certain frantic density to them, they also possess an ineffable purity of being absolutely detached from sentiment or passion.

Schedule

May 16 (Sat) 2009-Jun 13 (Sat) 2009 

Opening Hours Information

Hours
11:00-18:00
Fridays closing at 20:00
Closed
Monday, Sunday, Holidays
FeeFree
VenueYamamoto Gendai
http://yamamotogendai.org/
Location3F Terrada Art Complex, 1-33-10 Higashi Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0002
Access8 minute walk from Tennozu Isle Station on the Tokyo Monorail or Rinkai line. From JR Shinagawa station, take the Toei bus (towards Yashio Park Town), and get off at Tennouzubashi. The venue is 3 minute walk from there.
Phone03-6433-2988
Related images

Click on the image to enlarge it