May 28 (Tue) – June 23 (Sun), 2024
Opening hours: 11:00-19:00 (last entry 18:45)
Closed: Mondays
＜Exhibition Outline＞
CREATIVE HUB UENO “es” is pleased to present the solo exhibition “Clay Room” by Koko Terauchi from May 28 (Tue) to June 23 (Sun), 2024.
＜Artist’s Statement＞
The space within my memories is not a perfectly retained 360-degree image,
but one that transformed gradually based on reality, leaving behind aspects special to each person,
such as a certain perspective, the angle of a photograph, or a certain texture that evokes feeling.
As I reconstruct this space within my memories into three-dimensional form,
it is being sublimated into a metalwork that contains stronger feelings than reality.
＜Artist＞
Koko Terauchi
2023 M.F.A., Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Crafts, Metal Casting Course
Awards and Past Exhibitions
2019 Ataka Prize
2021 “Salon du Plantin Prize” at 69th Tokyo University of the Arts Graduation Exhibition
2023 Awarded 71st Tokyo University of the Arts Graduation Exhibition “Purchase” prize
Solo exhibition “JUMBLE DIVE” at Bohemian’s Guild CAGE, Tokyo
My grandmother used to make dolls and other artwork with paper clay, and this influence is at the root of my own creative activities.
Her artworks deteriorated easily due to the nature of paper clay, and many were lost after sorting through her belongings. On that day I felt a sense of loneliness, as if what had been a work of art had suddenly become nothing more than an object, and the memories it contained had also disappeared.
This experience led me to develop an interest in “preserving memories” from where I create works based on the theme of memory, using metal as a material that does not easily decay.
＜Past works＞
“Room of Memories”, 2021, bronze, brass (h) 600 x (w)1600 x(d) 1200 mm
The influence of my grandmother, who ran a paper clay crafts class, is at the root of my creative activities.
This work is a section of a room in the apartment that she used as a classroom, and the ruffles that my grandmother often used as motifs in modelling were added to express my respect for her.
“In the jumble scenes” 2023, brass, bronze, aluminum (h) 1720 x (w) 1960 x (d) 1150 mm
On the right are the buildings of Tokyo at night. On the left is Kyoto, which I visited on a trip to research Japanese antique art. At the bottom is a boat sailing through with splashing waves. In the center is the backpack I always carried and the sneakers I always wore. Wearing my favorite clothes that I am most familiar with, I walk through the city of jumbled memories.
