ARTIST

Iwao Ikeda

INFORMATION

Ikeda Iwao -SHINGU- January 13th (Mon) - January 25th (Sat), 2025

Throughout his career as an artist, Ikeda has created works that explore the appeal of bamboo and lacquer, materials that are also his own roots, with the theme of "the life of bamboo, the spirit of lacquer." "SHINGU" which is also the title of this exhibition, are a group of works conceived and produced between 2018 and 2019, and were produced intensively as "destinations for the gods."

The pieces are made using precious bamboo, carefully selected for its shape and thickness, genuine lacquer, and genuine gold, and are thoroughly polished to create an incomparable presence.

This exhibition will display all of these "SHINGU" as well as approximately 25 other works, including "Divergence of Consciousness" (2016-2018) and new two-dimensional works "Fragments of Thought" (2023-2024), which Ikeda has been working on since last year. It will systematically introduce a group of works that have object-like elements and that emphasize the relationship between Ikeda's own thoughts and the work itself, which he has been working on in recent years.

Mirrors, swords, and other items kept in shrines are called sacred treasures.

A refined masterpiece is called a divine work, and excellent poetry and prose exude a divine charm.

The painter Vasari, who wrote the "Lives of Artists" during the Renaissance, often said that masterpieces by artists such as Giotto and Da Vinci were born from divine revelation.

-Excerpt from Ikeda Iwao's "SHINGU" (2019)-