For those of you in Tokyo, NY-based Japanese artist Akino’s first solo exhibit “KiyaKiya” is being held at Mizuma Art Gallery in Tokyo from Oct 11 to Nov 12.
Her beautiful drawings can be seen in a new animation movie with music by John Zorn and I actually worked on the music and the sound design for this film with Zorn. The present exhibition includes Kondoh’s new animation work “KiyaKiya” as well as drawings, oil paintings and sketches. The term “KiyaKiya” comes from the old Japanese expression “mune ga kiyakiya suru.” Kondoh first encountered it in Shibusawa Tatsuhiko’s “Introduction to the collection of girls”in the chapter written about “childhood experiences.” This expression, which describes “an enigmatic, nostalgic, disturbing feeling,” or an impression of “deja-vu”, is at the origin of the “KiyaKiya” series. In the animation, a girl is performing “kamishibai” (a traditional Japanese picture-story show). When the artist noticed the time gap between the front and the back of the illustration cards (the episode of the story the audience is listening to is written on the back of the previous card; that is to say there is a 1 page difference between the front and the back of the “kamishibai” cards) she says she felt the possibility of a different dimension hidden right behind the everyday life. Three worlds simultaneously develop in the work. The same girl, who exists in the three of them, lives all three different times. These tracks curve slowly, eventually colliding and switching directions and she continuously circle these orbits in an endless repetition. In the present exhibition, you will experience a uneasy and nostalgic feeling, as if you had long forgotten an important something and were about to remember it. Some memory locked down in your heart might very well resurface. At the exhibition, her first catalog “KiyaKiya” will be presold at the gallery. Title:Akino Kondoh Sketch Collection “KiyaKiya” Book design:Bunpei Yorifuji Release Date:2011/10/25 ISBN:978-4-904292-16-7 Product Dimensions:deformed A5/paper back/single-side/4 color/rounded corners Page:402page Price:2,300JPY(no tax included) It’s the first catalog by KONDOH Akino with 200 sketches for new animation “KiyaKiya”. Book designed by very popular designer Bunpei Yorifuji. recreated original drawings with 4 color on a sheer paper is beautifully overlapped as one book. Exhibition information KONDOH Akino “KiyaKiya” October 11 (tue) - November 12 (sat), 2011 (closed on Sun., Mon. & Holidays) Opening Reception: October 11 (tue): 18:00-20:00 Mizuma Art Gallery 2F Kagura Bldg., 3-13 Ichigayatamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0843 JAPAN tel: +81.3.3268.2500/fax: +81.3.3268.8844 http://mizuma-art.co.jp http://mizuma-art.co.jp/gallery_info/index_e.html KiyaKiya 2010-2011 single channel animation video 6 min. 39 sec. Courtesy the artist and Mizuma Art Gallery