KM05
Artcourt Gallery
（Osaka）
It is with great pleasure that we introduce three artists based in Kyoto.
Shihoko Fukumoto (1945 – ) is a contemporary artist who explores the expressive potential of indigo dyeing, ever deepening and expanding her creative horizons. Drawing on timeworn textiles rooted in Japan’s natural environment, she has, in recent years, developed a singular practice that conveys messages shaped by a far-reaching awareness which includes environmental issues unfolding on a planetary scale. In this exhibition, she presents two works, Zen and 𝘑𝘰̄𝘥𝘰 (Pure Land), created by layering indigo onto the kesa robes of high priests, garments painstakingly crafted and carefully passed down through generations, giving form to the enduring sources of Japanese cultural identity that are quietly slipping away.
In contrast to Fukumoto’s works, which possess a tangible material presence, Nobuaki Onishi (1972 – ) employs perfectly transparent resin to meticulously replicate everyday objects and natural forms, rendering their colors and textures with such fidelity that they appear indistinguishable from the real, while deliberately leaving portions conspicuously transparent, thereby creating singular works that call into question our everyday assumptions. In doing so, he delivers an experience in which time and space slip into a state of delicate instability.
Further expanding this dynamic is the work of Yukie Laurentia Beheim, an up-and-coming artist originally from Germany and trained Noh mask carver who came to Japan in 2019, whose sculptural masks call forth another dimension.
The works of these three artists interact, setting into motion gentle disturbances that ripple through time and space.
Gallery Information
Since ARTCOURT Gallery opened its doors in Osaka in 2003, the gallery has focused on internationally acclaimed artists such as Hitoshi Nomura and Norio Imai who stood at the forefront of postwar Japanese art as well as Yo Akiyama and Shihoko Fukumoto who have cultivated a unique aesthetic to expand and deepen new forms of crafts, and younger artists such as Genta Ishizuka and Satoshi Kawata who have captivated audiences worldwide. We are devoted to introducing artists who create contemporary art marked by an abundance of conceptual, material and technical originality. We organize exhibitions, taking advantage of the space that is comparable in scale to a museum, coordinate exhibitions inside and outside Japan, supply public art, and strive to place works in the collections of museums and foundations. In 2018, ARTCOURT Gallery opened ACG Villa Kyoto, a new viewing room in Kyoto’s Kitashirakawa district. The gallery aims to be a base designed to convey outstanding Japanese contemporary art.
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