Alex Dodge "The Center of Elegance"
Maki Fine Arts
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Alex Dodge
Maki Fine Arts is pleased to present The Center of Elegance, Alex Dodge’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery and his first major return to sculpture and textile-based work in over a decade. Opening November 22, the exhibition marks a significant expansion of Dodge’s practice, introducing sculptural installation alongside his signature stenciled paintings to explore themes of cultural hybridity, postwar memory, and the contradictions embedded within cross-cultural exchange.
At the heart of the exhibition stands a sculptural installation: a circle of six chrome-plated folding chairs arranged in dialogue. A life-sized seated figure occupies one chair, draped in gold and white satin, wearing a custom Sukajan jacket embroidered with “Milton, Paradise Lost” and adorned with an American flag. The figure’s meditative posture—head slightly bowed, face partially obscured by a gold-fringed trucker cap and silk mask—evokes both presence and absence, commemoration and contemplation. Four additional Sukajan jackets rest on surrounding chairs, each embroidered with phrases including “Milky Way,” “A Dream,” “Morimoto,” and “The Horror.” One chair remains conspicuously empty.
The Sukajan, or souvenir jacket, emerged from the postwar encounter between American servicemen and Japanese embroidery artisans during the Allied occupation. Originally crafted as commemorative objects, these hybrid garments embody both celebration and conflict, intimacy and displacement. For Dodge—an American artist now deeply rooted in Japanese life through family and community—the Sukajan offers a resonant site of inquiry into the unspoken legacies that persist between the two nations.
Working collaboratively with embroidery artisans specializing in Yokofuri Shishuu (freehand embroidery), Dodge developed new visual languages specific to the technique’s capabilities rather than replicating traditional motifs. The resulting jackets are contemporary artifacts that inhabit historical form while remaining distinctly his own—objects that hold space for contradiction and the possibilities of shared making.
The exhibition extends across multiple bodies of work. A fabric triptych behind the seated figure layers cut shapes derived from Sukajan sewing patterns between sheer linen, with bold gestural painting in clear acrylic modulating the fabric’s opacity. The central panel bears the exhibition’s title in fabric letters. On another wall, three large-scale oil and acrylic paintings employ Dodge’s characteristic stencil technique to render draped Sukajan jackets and patterned textiles in intricate detail. Opposite these hang smaller fabric collages constructed from glove-pattern shapes, forming face-like compositions inscribed with phrases such as “Star Dust,” “Warm Body,” and “À La Mode.” Additional paintings depict white dress shirts in various states of disarray, extending the exhibition’s meditation on garments as sites of meaning and memory.
In his statement, Dodge reflects: “These jackets are not reproductions or pastiches. They are contemporary artifacts that inhabit the Sukajan form while remaining wholly my own. Through them, I aim to hold space for contradiction—for the beauty that arises out of conflict, for the intimacy within cultural collision, for the possibility of dialogue not through mimicry, but through shared making.”
The Center of Elegance suggests both aspiration and irony—a title that acknowledges the contradictions within cultural identity and the complicated aesthetics of power. The exhibition arrives at a moment of renewed tension in American political life, yet offers a model of engagement rooted in collaboration, care, and the acknowledgment of difficult histories.
At the heart of the exhibition stands a sculptural installation: a circle of six chrome-plated folding chairs arranged in dialogue. A life-sized seated figure occupies one chair, draped in gold and white satin, wearing a custom Sukajan jacket embroidered with “Milton, Paradise Lost” and adorned with an American flag. The figure’s meditative posture—head slightly bowed, face partially obscured by a gold-fringed trucker cap and silk mask—evokes both presence and absence, commemoration and contemplation. Four additional Sukajan jackets rest on surrounding chairs, each embroidered with phrases including “Milky Way,” “A Dream,” “Morimoto,” and “The Horror.” One chair remains conspicuously empty.
The Sukajan, or souvenir jacket, emerged from the postwar encounter between American servicemen and Japanese embroidery artisans during the Allied occupation. Originally crafted as commemorative objects, these hybrid garments embody both celebration and conflict, intimacy and displacement. For Dodge—an American artist now deeply rooted in Japanese life through family and community—the Sukajan offers a resonant site of inquiry into the unspoken legacies that persist between the two nations.
Working collaboratively with embroidery artisans specializing in Yokofuri Shishuu (freehand embroidery), Dodge developed new visual languages specific to the technique’s capabilities rather than replicating traditional motifs. The resulting jackets are contemporary artifacts that inhabit historical form while remaining distinctly his own—objects that hold space for contradiction and the possibilities of shared making.
The exhibition extends across multiple bodies of work. A fabric triptych behind the seated figure layers cut shapes derived from Sukajan sewing patterns between sheer linen, with bold gestural painting in clear acrylic modulating the fabric’s opacity. The central panel bears the exhibition’s title in fabric letters. On another wall, three large-scale oil and acrylic paintings employ Dodge’s characteristic stencil technique to render draped Sukajan jackets and patterned textiles in intricate detail. Opposite these hang smaller fabric collages constructed from glove-pattern shapes, forming face-like compositions inscribed with phrases such as “Star Dust,” “Warm Body,” and “À La Mode.” Additional paintings depict white dress shirts in various states of disarray, extending the exhibition’s meditation on garments as sites of meaning and memory.
In his statement, Dodge reflects: “These jackets are not reproductions or pastiches. They are contemporary artifacts that inhabit the Sukajan form while remaining wholly my own. Through them, I aim to hold space for contradiction—for the beauty that arises out of conflict, for the intimacy within cultural collision, for the possibility of dialogue not through mimicry, but through shared making.”
The Center of Elegance suggests both aspiration and irony—a title that acknowledges the contradictions within cultural identity and the complicated aesthetics of power. The exhibition arrives at a moment of renewed tension in American political life, yet offers a model of engagement rooted in collaboration, care, and the acknowledgment of difficult histories.
Schedule Now in session | Nov 22 (Sat) 2025-Dec 21 (Sun) 2025 7 days left Opening Hours Information
Opening Reception Nov 22 (Sat) 2025 17:00 - 19:00 | ||||
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | https://makifinearts.com/en/exhibitions/dodge_2025/ | ||||
| Venue | Maki Fine Arts http://www.makifinearts.com/en/ | ||||
| Location | B101, 77-5 Tenjin-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0808 | ||||
| Access | 4 minute walk from exit 2 at Kagurazaka Station on the Tozai line, 6 minute walk from exit 2 at Edogawabashi Station on the Yurakucho line, 13 minute walk from exit A1 at Ushigome-kagurazaka Station on the Toei Oedo line. | ||||
| Phone | 03-5579-2086 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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