Page 9 - Vol. VII #8

“Through my artwork, I am searching for another vision and another way of
thinking for my life in the expressive space between installation works, sculptures and wall works. I like to use overlooked indigenous objects from
our daily life as my media. Discarded materials are important to me not only for environmental issues but also to reflect my current life. My choice of materials and interpretation are influenced by the differences that I experience between life in Ameri- ca and Japan where I grew up.
“Bauhaus and Dadaism—these philosophies were perfect to affect the wounded youth in post–World War II Japan and I was not an exception. I grew up learning from and observing them in my formative years in Japan. My sculptural education was very academic but these philosophies became a solid core for my way of thinking and for my art-making direction.
“My works are personal; I work in large and small scales in belief of their potential for intimacy. They are my visual diaries.”
Tamiko Kawata was trained in sculpture at Tokyo University. She grew up in Japan, in the wake of World War II, and immigrated to New York in 1962. Her approach is informed by modernist ideas of Dada and Assemblage. Experimental in nature, Kawata explores the physicality of hum- ble materials via multiplicity and unexpected juxtapositions. She creates category-defying works that range from collage and sculpture to major site-specific installations. The safety pin is her signature building block, but she also incorporates other everyday, utilitarian objects in her work with similar effect. Kawata has exhibited extensively, both in the United States and internation- ally. Her work is held in numerous public collections and she is the recipient of multiple awards and residencies from institutions such as such as the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Pollock/Krasner Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, MacDowell Colony Residency, Yaddo Art Colony, and The Millay Colony for the Arts.
courtesy of the
Garvey imon
SG
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