Tomoko Inagaki: Ghost

Feb.11 - March 5, 2017

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  Art-U room is delighted to present “Ghost,” Inagaki Tomoko’s third solo exhibition at the gallery. Inagaki’s principal medium is video installation. Working from the perspective of a woman in contemporary society, she has gained a reputation for works that bring into relief contradictions and absurdities hidden in systems and habits that we blindly follow. She is particularly known for her ‘Mirror’ series, including ‘Forcing House,’(2013) which utilizes tricky visual effects involving one-way mirrors to produce a space that at first glance appears to extend ad infinitum, but is actually a cramped greenhouse with mirrored glass, expressing the cooped-up feeling of a woman trapped inside. Also well-known is ‘In-between,’(2011) a video work in the form of a story that employs symmetry on both the time and space axes, steadily blurring the boundary between fact and fiction as the story progresses.

 

  ‘Ghost,’ the video installation included in this exhibition, simultaneously projects four video channels with mirrors arranged like a traditional folding screen. Each video shows a woman, whose partner’s face is out of sight, displaying body language that expresses one of four emotions: joy, anger, sadness, and comfort. However, as this wordless theater progresses, something in it slowly arouses viewers’ suspicions. Then, with the sort of mechanism that is characteristic of Inagaki’s works, the videos turn to questioning the validity of the conditioned responses and judgments that we have unconsciously gained.

 

  Inagaki has recently been broadening her practice. Last year, she returned to performance work after an interlude of many years, participating in a performance festival in Sheffield, UK. She also curated ‘Melting Point,’ a screening of video works by a number of artists in omnibus format, which she presented in the UK, Germany, and Osaka. She has now remixed this as ‘Melting Point 2,’ to be presented at MEM in Ebisu, Tokyo as part of the Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions. The screening coincides with ‘Ghost’ at Art-U room, and we hope that visitors to the exhibition will also take the opportunity to catch this related event.

 

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■ Tomoko INAGAKI

Born in Osaka, Japan. Graduated from Middlesex University, London in 2001 (B.A. in Fine Arts). While studying in the university, she started giving performances and showing installation works in UK and other European cities. After returning to Japan, Inagaki held her first solo exhibition ‘Dream Island’ in 2002 at CAS, Osaka. Her major exhibitions so far are; ‘Komorebi’(Art Tower Mito, 2003), ‘Osaka Art Kaleidoscope—Spring, Flower, Life’ (CASO, 2004), ‘Mirage in Summer’ (Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi, 2005), ‘In-between’ (msc Gallery, Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts, 2010), ‘Project “Mirrors”’ (Kyoto Art Center, 2013), etc. Inagaki has participated in a number of Artist-in-residence programs overseas. Currently lives and works in Kishiwada, Osaka.

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Artist’s website:

http://tomokoinagaki.com

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● Opening hours: Tue.-Sat. 12:00-19:00. Sun.12:00-17:00. / closed on Mon.

● Feb.11th, 2PM~ Artist talk: guest Satoshi Nakashima (scholar of Anthropology of Arts), 4~7PM Opening Reception

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■ Support: ARTISTS' GUILD

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[ Press Release (PDF) ]