Kyoto – It is with great pleasure that we announce the Kimiyo Mishima Solo Exhibition, which will take place at two venues: Sokyo Gallery (381-2 Motomachi, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto 605-0089 Japan) and Sokyo Annex (3F, SSS Building 375 Ichinofunairi-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-0924 Japan). We are delighted to invite you to view the works in advance at a brunch-style press preview at Sokyo Gallery on Wed., February 14 from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. The exhibition will run from Thu., February 15 to Wed., April 17, and will be Mishima’s 10th show with us following solo shows at Sokyo Gallery, Sokyo Annex, SOKYO ATSUMI (Tennoz) and Sokyo Lisbon (Lisbon, Portugal), and participation in various international art fairs.
Mishima began her career with figurative painting and went on to work in a range of media and modes, including abstract painting, collage, etching, sculpture, ceramics, and large-scale installation, exploring themes of dread and anxiety toward the vast quantities of waste produced during Japan’s rapid economic growth and our increasing inundation with data in an information society. Beginning in the late 1960s, she conveyed her own sense of dread toward the waste issue more tangibly through the fragile nature of ceramics, which shatter upon impact. Since the 1970s, she has produced the hyperrealist ceramic renderings of everyday items like empty cans, cardboard boxes, and comic books for which she is best known.
The exhibition at Sokyo Gallery will feature new ceramic works, with the pair of large-scale works Work2003 (Newspaper), created from melted slag*, as the centerpiece. Work 2003 (Newspaper) was displayed outside as part of The Art of Earth: Clay Works of the New Century, an exhibition held at the National Museum of Art, Osaka at its previous location in Expo ’70 Commemorative Park. It was also shown in Mishima Kimiyo: Play, Watch, Create, an exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu in 2023, but this marks the first time that the work has been exhibited at a commercial gallery.
Mishima has stated that the massive enlargement of these works was not influenced by artists such as Claes Oldenburg. In her words:
"I just thought it would be a fun and interesting project, and I thought the objects would have a more powerful impact at giant sizes than at their standard size... I was just curious about how it would turn out, I wanted to create something that I would find entertaining, and embarked on the process without planning it in advance. Enlarging the works makes a different impression, the difference is really dramatic. You can see this effect on Naoshima, too. A larger scale gives the works a new layer of meaning, and I found this incredibly fascinating."
―Kimiyo Mishima (Kimiyo Mishima Solo Exhibition: 1950s –2021, Hans Ulrich Obrist / Sokyo (Kyoto), 2021, p.103.)
At Sokyo Annex, Mishima will present five pieces from her Monologue series of two-dimensional works. They are part of her Human Body series which are a radical departure from her well-known two-dimensional works of collages made from old newspapers, Life magazine, and discarded everyday items such as mosquito nets and futons, and several pieces are making their public debut at this exhibition. Mishima has worked ceaselessly and tirelessly for decades, believing in her husband and mentor Shigeji’s assertion that “if she kept persevering, she would eventually be recognized as a female artist.” This exhibition aims to provide a fresh lens through which to explore Mishima’s work, highlighting her perspectives on society as a Japanese woman and her documentation of her own life.
In conjunction with this exhibition, Sokyo Gallery is set to release its third Mishima Kimiyo Exhibition Catalogue. This latest volume will feature a transcript of a discussion with Mami Kataoka (Director of the Mori Museum) on April 1, 2023, and an article by Hans Ulrich Obrist (Artistic Director, Serpentine Gallery) titled “ ‘Horror und Humor’: Beschäftigen Sie sich mit dem Werk der japanischen Künstlerin Kimiyo Mishima! Es lohnt sich.” published in Das Magazin following an interview with Mishima. We are now accepted pre-orders for the book through info@gallery-sokyo.jp.
Finally, as the second in our series of events, we will host CAT (Collaboration Art Team) at Sokyo Annex on Sat., March 16 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. We are honored to welcome special guests Junzo Ueda, representative of Mishima Kimiyo Studio, and Fumio Yoshida, the studio’s production chief, to join children in experiencing the energy and humor emanating from Mishima’s works and engaging in collaborative art-making. Please apply at info@gallery-sokyo.jp. Capacity of 15 participants, acceptance of applications will end once full.
(*Glass-like powder produced by firing waste at 1400°C.)
Kimiyo Mishima
Born in Osaka in Japan in 1932, and lives and works in both Juso, Osaka and Toki, Gifu. She exhibited her paintings at Dokuritsu Exhibition from 1954. She received the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, U.S.A. and stayed in New York, NY from 1986 to 1987. Permanent collections include: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Pola Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan; The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan; Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan; Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Hyogo, Japan; The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shiga, Japan; Museum of modern Cermic Art, Gifu, Japan; National Crafts Museum, Ishikawa, Japan; Benesse Art Site Naoshima, Kagawa, Japan; International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, Italy; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA, U.S.A.; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, U.S.A.; British Museum, London, UK; M+, Hong Kong; Muséed'art modern, Paris, France; The Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; The Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland, Australia and more. Awards include: Osaka City Prize, Dokuritsu Exhibition (1961), Grand Prix and Suda Prize, Dokuritsu Exhibition (1963), Winner of the Prize, The 9th Annual Shell Exhibition (1965), Gold Prize, International Ceramic Exhibition, Faenza (1974), Winner of the Prize, The 11th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan (1975), Gold Prize, Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture Exhibition, Toki (1988), Grand Prix, Sai no Kuni Saitama Chokoku Variety (1996), Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum Prize and The Citizen Prize, The 19th Contemporary Japanese Sculpture Exhibition (2001), Sardi per l’Arte Back to the Future Prize at Artissima, Torino, Italy (2019), Ando Tadao Cultural Foundation Prize as the first artist to receive the prize (2019). In recent years, Mishima has received significant acclaim both in Japan and abroad, receiving the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs Award, the 63rd Mainichi Art Award, the Gold Prize of the Ceramic Society of Japan in 2021, and the 11th Enku Award (Gifu) in 2022.
For more information and images, please contact:
info@gallery-sokyo.jp / Tel: 075-746-4456
Sokyo Gallery | 381-2 Motomachi, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto 605-0089 Japan
