Solo Exhibition by Ayakoh Furukawa-Leonart with Guest artist Toki Ozaki
This exhibition features works by Ayakoh Furukawa-Leonart. This time, Ayakoh presents a series of drawings and paintings that evoke the unsettled feelings of childhood that still linger in everyone's heart.
Not all childhood experiences are pure and carefree. Many people grow up with anxiety about nostalgic memories, and many live with unhealed emotional wounds. The artist embodies these emotions and states of mind in various ways. Some works may evoke a sense of confronting the poison in your soul and reopening your wounds. However, what the artists want to convey through her works is that there is a beautiful soul within you that will never be lost.
In the backroom of the gallery, Toki Ozaki adds another layer to this exhibition. She creates multimedia objects and woven works. These abstract, landscape-like pieces are inspired by places the artist has been. They suggest feelings of uncertainty, distorted memories, and nostalgic stories.
In this exhibition, you will encounter works that become more endearing each time you see them.
Ayakoh Furukawa - Leonart is a New York-based multidisciplinary artist. Her works are diverse, ranging from portraits of women created by repeating poems and sentences as if in prayer, to drawings and oil paintings of animals that capture the innocence of fragile lives. She also explores themes such as a girl in a red hood surrounded by an unfavorable environment, a knitted piece that expresses the eulogy of motherhood, and semi-abstract works that incorporate ink painting techniques. Additionally, Ayakoh occasionally performs at events to foster connections among people. At first glance, her works may seem unrelated, but a recurring theme throughout is her earnest desire for salvation and her love for humanity.Ayakoh has exhibited her works primarily at cultural facilities and galleries in and around NYC, including the Japan Society, Ise Cultural Foundation, Jersey City Museum, Tenri Cultural Center, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Gallery Onetwentyeight, Suzan Ely Fine Art, Mahr Gallery, Marlborough Chelsea, Plaxall Gallery, RESOBOX, and others. She holds an MFA from Hunter College, CUNY.
Toki Ozaki lives and works in New York City. She works with both textiles and video and considers them to be interconnected. Her textile works invite contemplation of the meditation involved in their creation, as well as the labor and time. For Ozaki, who has been active as a textile designer for over 20 years, thread and fabric are part of everyday life. In her video works, she fuses documentary style with unnatural proportions and distortions to create another layer of experience. Selected Shows: Gallery 128, NY, Gallery Riviere, Jpn, 2023, Gallery Bvoo, Linz Aut, Parker's Box, Stadt Gallery, Krem, Aut. Performances: AIR Gallery, Jack Tilton Gallery, Video: Gene Frankel Theatre, La Mama 2022, Press: Detroit News, MI, N. Adams Transcript, MA, Interviewed at WBAI. Hunter College MFA
About Gallery Onetwentyeight
Founder/Artist Kazuko Miyamoto arrived in New York in 1964 and was an early member of New York's A.I.R. Gallery, the first nonprofit all-women artist collective in the United States in the 1970s. Miyamoto soon began collaborating with Sol LeWitt, fabricating his early open-cube sculptures and executing his important first wall drawings. In 1986, she founded her own gallery, Onetwentyeight, at 128 Rivington Street, which still stands today as the longest continuously running gallery on the Lower East Side. The gallery has showcased a mix of international and local artists. Gallery Onetwentyeight is Miyamoto's lifelong project and remains at the heart of the art scene, hosting exhibitions throughout the year while occasionally serving as her studio and archive.
More information of the artists:
https://www.ayakohfurukawa.com IG:@ayakohfl
ayakohfurukawa@gmail.com
|
