Art Projects Gallery proudly presents “Hide & Seek”, a solo exhibition by renowned Japanese artist, Mayuka Yamamoto, featuring her latest works.
Yamamoto (b.1964, Okayama, Japan) is known for her oil paintings portraying children in animal suits or possessing animal features, as a way to reveal their inner world. Like a protective armor in response to their emotions and psychological state, they seem to instinctively hide behind a second skin in the form of animal costumes or some other defensive physical animalistic features. In some of the pieces, Yamamoto also paints settings inspired by nature, further enhancing the contemplative space into which the subject seems to find solace in the dreamlike natural habitat.
Yamamoto’s oil paintings often appear reticent and introspective. At first glance, the child characters in Yamamoto’s works seem to be devoid of any emotion or facial expression, that when juxtaposed against the subtle ambience settings painted in soft, muted color tones, exude an aura of otherworldly calm and demeanor that belie their true emotional and psychological states.
The subtle tension portrayed in Yamamoto’s works becomes a powerful expression of the inner psyche stemming from childhood fears, that has been the central focus of Yamamoto’s works since her pregnancy in 2002 when she began to reflect on her own childhood and explored the ideas of natural instinct, parenthood and the anxieties related to growing up. A boy in an animal suit, and sometimes growing animal features, became Yamamoto’s way of representing the physical and psychological changes experienced by the child. Cloaked in the protective skin of the animal suit, or armed with defensive animal features such as deer antlers, the child stares out at the audience, who might connect emotionally, or even find themselves within the depths of the pensive eyes of the child in Yamamoto’s works.
Yamamoto is widely recognized as one of Japan’s leading second-generation contemporary artist. She studied print and oil painting at the Musashino Art University where she received her Masters degree in 1990. In 1998-1999, Yamamoto studied in London under the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists. Since 1992, she has exhibited extensively in solo and group shows in Japan and internationally.
藝途畫廊榮幸呈現日本當代藝術家山本麻友香 (Mayuka Yamamoto) 個展《捉迷藏》，是次展覽展示山本的近期創作包括油畫、版畫和限量版精品作品。
山本麻友香 （1964年出生於日本岡山）的作品中多為沈靜的男孩，無論是披上動物的套裝或是帶著俱有動物特徵的事物，藉此來表達他們的內心世界。他們就像穿上了防護裝甲，反應了他們的情緒和心理狀態。披著動物的服裝或其它一些具防禦性的動物物理特徵，彷彿是他們的本能般，隱藏在這第二層皮膚下。 在一些作品當中，山本所描繪的背景，靈感來自大自然，進一步加強了沈思的空間，使得作品中的孩子人物，在夢幻般的自然棲息地，似乎找到了安慰。
山本的油畫作品常令人感覺沈沒和神秘。乍看之下，山本作品中的孩子人物似乎沒有任何情緒或面部表情，配合柔和色調的背景，營造微妙的氛圍，另作品散發出超凡脫俗的沉靜，掩蓋自己真實的情感和心理狀態。
山本作品中，那微妙的張力，充分的表達童年的恐懼所產生的心理反應，這個主題一直是山本自2002年懷孕以來，她變開始反思自己的童年並探索如自然本能、身為父母和成長的憂慮的種種表象。披著動物套裝的保護皮膚下，或是長有或持有防禦性的動物特徵，如鹿角，男孩凝視著觀眾，另觀眾與其連接情感，觀眾甚至可以從山本的作品中，那孩子的沈思眼睛深處，自我發現。
山本麻友香被廣泛的認為是日本領先的第二代當代藝術家之一。於1990年畢業於武藏野美術大學、主修版畫和油畫，獲碩士學位。於1998年至1999年，山本獲日本政府資助，是日本海外留學計劃的藝術家之一，並到倫敦研修。自1992年以來，山本曾多次在日本和世界各個地區，舉辦個展並參與聯展。 |
