Shell of Phantom Light｜21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.

Information

Period:

2023.4.8(Sat.) - 2023.9.18(Mon.)
10:00-18:00（until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays）

Venue:

Design Gallery / 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

Admission:

Free

Closed:

Mondays (except July 17 and September 18), May 14, July 18

For More Information:

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Phone: +81-76-220-2800
E-Mail: info@kanazawa21.jp

Using the raden (mother-of-pearl inlay) technique, the craft artist IKEDA Terumasa (1987-) depicts insubstantial objects such as data and electrical signals, as well as imaginary animals. Numbers fall down like rain, and patterns resembling electronic circuits exhibit movement depending on the angle. The iridescent light of the shells represents the electric current and data that underlie human life today. A conch features long water-tube grooves like a bone shell, while a dragonfly has five pairs of wings. The mother-of-pearl inlay decoration on the surface imparts the sublimity of the idol to these fictional forms. Ikeda’s act of creation is akin to a “Shin,” a mythical shell-like creature in folklore embodying a landscape that does not exist in this world by spitting out mirages.
This exhibition presents a total of 14 works from the first 10 years of Ikeda’s creative practice, divided into two phases. The exhibition venue, which brings together his own collection and works, including biological and mineral specimens as well as toys and books, allows visitors a glimpse into Ikeda’s “Natural History,” as well as an intuitive experience of the genealogy of his outlandish forms. In order to express his exquisite worldview in the form of minute vessels, Ikeda introduced new technologies such as a cutting machine for the production of the base material, and a pulsed laser for the cutting out of the mother-of-pearl inlay chips, while continuing to use traditional lacquer techniques. Each step in the production process and the production of raden obi, the result of a collaboration with the textile industry, are introduced through videos.

Artist’s Profile

IKEDA Terumasa

Born 1987 in Chiba, Japan. Lives and works in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan. Completed Master’s program in Crafts, Kanazawa College of Art in 2016. Completed training program at the Kanazawa Utatsuyama Kogei Kobo in 2019. Major exhibitions include “POKÉMON X KOGEI Playful Encounters of Pokémon and Japanese Craft” (National Crafts Museum, 2023); “In the Genes Taking Marvelous Meiji Craftsmanship into the Future” (Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, 2023); “Genreless kōgei” (National Crafts Museum, 2022); “Twelve Hawks and Crafts in Modernizing Japan: Changing Phases from the 1870s to the Present” (National Crafts Museum, 2021); and “Contemporary Japanese Crafts — Reinterpretation, Exquisite Craftsmanship, and Aesthetic Exploration” (Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art, 2020).

Exhibition Structure

IKEDA Terumasa, Incense case Infinity (detail), 2021
Private collection
H1.4×W5.6×D5.6 cm
Lacquer, abalone shell, green turban shell,
gold on wood (Japanese cypress)
photo: NAKAGAWA Akifumi

Do Humans Dream of Data Streams?

In the near future described by Philip K. Dick in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, androids inhabiting a war-torn earth are obsessed with acquiring real living creatures that have become precious to them. What kind of fetish, then, do we, as living beings inhabiting the real world, have towards the currents and data invisible to the naked eye that underlie the existence of information technology?
In a contemporary world that has become globalized alongside the development of science, science fiction images such as those from Dick’s novels have swept the world through popular culture such as manga and movies, replacing classical images of flowers, birds, wind, and the moon, and becoming images shared across the world that transcend cultural boundaries. Ikeda’s “Electric” series, which he has been showing since 2016 while working at the Utatsuyama Kogei Kobo in Kanazawa, uses images shared in popular culture, such as numbers falling like rain and electronic circuit-like patterns that exhibit movement depending on the angle you see them, to embody his imagination of the digital world in his lacquer art works.
At the studio of IKEDA Terumasa.
The work on the left in the second row from the top is Neoplasia02 (2014),
while the work on the left in the middle of the second row from the top is the dry lacquer work Neoplasia03 (2014).
photo: NAKAGAWA Akifumi

The Natural History of IKEDA Terumasa

IKEDA presented his “Neoplasia” series while a student at Kanazawa College of Art. Known as the abnormal growth of cells or tissues in medical terminology, “neoplasia” originally means new organism in Greek. Whether it is molding a cowry into a dry-lacquer work or growing a long water pipe groove on a conch, Ikeda uses his imagination to create imaginary forms based on actual living creatures. This exhibition traces the sources of the artist’s imagination, which runs throughout his works from his early “Neoplasia” series to his later “Electric” series. Assembled here is Ikeda’s own collection and works, including biological and mineral specimens, toys, and books. By getting a glimpse of Ikeda’s “Natural History,” visitors gain an intuitive experience of the genealogy of his outlandish forms.
IKEDA Terumasa × Kawashima Selkon Textiles Co.,Ltd.
Raden Obi Yaegasumi 2022
photo: KORODA Takeru

Collaboration with the Textile Industry

Since 2021, IKEDA has been presenting a collaborative series of raden (mother-of-pearl inlay) obi with Kawashima Selkon Textiles. The raden obi “Yaegasumi” to be shown at this exhibition is made by cutting raden -infused foil into thin threads and weaving them into a silk warp as a weft thread. Faithfully reproducing Ikeda’s designs, which are interspersed with patterns on the order of millimeters, would not be possible without the superb skills of textile artisans, who never deviate from the original down to the smallest detail. This exhibition presents these superb works, created in collaboration with the textile industry, along with video footage documenting their production.

Images

IKEDA Terumasa, Error: Brick, 2020
Private collection
H23.7×W10.6×D6.7 cm
Lacquer, abalone shell, green turban shell on wood (Japanese cypress)
courtesy: Sakiyama Design Corporation

IKEDA Terumasa, Incense case Infinity, 2021
Private collection
H1.4×W5.6×D5.6 cm
Lacquer, abalone shell, green turban shell,
gold on wood (Japanese cypress)
photo: NAKAGAWA Akifumi

The green machine in the middle of
IKEDA Terumasa’s studio is a pulsed laser capable of cutting raden chips as fine as 0.2 mm.
photo: NAKAGAWA Akifumi

IKEDA Terumasa × Kawashima Selkon Textiles Co.,Ltd.
Raden Obi Yaegasumi 2022
photo: KORODA Takeru

Credit

Organized by:

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Kanazawa Art Promotion and Development Foundation)

In Cooperation with:

Sakiyama Design Corporation