by Michiko Suzuki exhibition
An exciting exhibition featuring the printmaking of Michiko Suzuki is coming up this week!
Michiko Suzuki: Floating World 1 (Time Like Air)
FLOATING WORLD
April 24th to May 24th, 2008
Opening reception Thursday, April 24th, 6 – 8:00 pm
Bellevue Gallery
2475 Bellevue Avenue, West Vancouver, BC
These excerpts from the invitation brochure say it best:
Michiko Suzuki is a Tokyo based artist active in Japan since 1975. In 2002, she was invited as a visiting artist in the Printmaking department at the University of Alberta, and then in 2003 was invited as the first artist-residence in the printmaking department of Capilano College, N.Vancouver, BC. There she worked on a collaboration with printmaking faculty Wayne Eastcott. They exhibited the results in 2003, 2005, and 2006 in Tokyo, Japan and Vancouver, Canada.
She immigrated to Canada in 2006 (permanent residence status) and is living and working in Greater Vancouver. This is her first solo exhibition at a commercial gallery in Canada.
This exhibition’s title “Floating world” comes from the Japanese UKIYO-E (referring to Japanese traditional wood cuts). It means “Picture of the present”. UKIYO literally translates as, “Floating world”. Therefore, the theme is “Present life looks like a transient dream.”
Suzuki’s work is based on her perception of a world in which the sense of space and distance is shrinking, not only in the physical world but also in terms of the mental space that people tend to inhabit in a fast-paced urban society. She considers that the demands of contemporary life leave too little space for meditation, or the possibility of contemplating the present moment, resulting in humans being out of balance. As a response to this condition Suzuki incorporates empty space within much of her recent works. (Richard Noyce)
For that reason, Suzuki composes works that include elements of the past, present and future. She also employs another dimension (surreal image) that fits well with her work’s space, and deals with the connection between Reality and Illusion.
Michiko Suzuki: I Am Suddenly Transported Here
More examples of Michiko’s work may be seen on the Bellevue Gallery site under ‘Gallery Artists’.
Michiko is a friend and a fellow artist working in the same printmaking studio. She has been a subject of several blogposts here regarding her collaborations with Wayne Eastcott:
August 2004
October 2005
September 2006
October 2006
April 20, 2008 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists, Printmaking by Marja-Leena
That first print looks fascinating, and I long to touch and handle that concertina book…
Thanks for the comment and tip on mine – Loren’s gender has been corrected!
Beautiful and ethereal. Is the artist’s book one-of-a-kind, or did she make an edition of prints and create the books from them? Looks lovely and like Lucy, I wish I could see and hold it.
Lucy and Beth, thanks for the interest in Michiko’s work. I saw her working on it in the early stages so I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished book. It’s done in the Japanese style with prints on both sides. I think she did an edition of four or five. I wish you could see all her work in person.
Well, what an opening! The work looked absolutely stunning, Michiko glowed happily in her Japanese kimono, the room was wall-to-wall people, wine and superb nibbles poured forth endlessly.
The book was a marvellous centrepiece displayed on a table in the middle. I noticed the display book is an artist’s proof and the beautifully boxed edition is 1/1. (So my answer to Beth’s question was incorrect, sorry!)
Truly well worth seeing this exhibition if you are in the Vancouver region!