• Thursday February 10th, 2022

Event

Date:February 18 (Friday) – February 25 (Friday), 2022
Hours: 12:00 ~ 18:00
Closed: Sunday, Monday and national holiday
Admission: free
Artist:Amane Ishii
*In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection, we would appreciate your cooperation for the following precautions.

・All visitors are asked to wear masks.
・Please refrain from visiting if you have symptoms such as colds or fever.
・If the inside of the gallery is crowded, you may have to wait at the entrance.
https://www.imuraart.com/exhibition/2022/01/mimic-pt1.html

Venue

 
Imura art gallery kyoto
https://www.imuraart.com
Access: 31, Kawabata-Higashi Marutamachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto,
606-8395, Japan
Tel: 075-761-7372

Overview

 
First exhibition of outcomes from the MIMIC research project recording the process of an artist mimicking an artist
Imura art gallery is pleased to announce MIMIC Research Archive Part 1: Amane Ishii, an exhibition by the MIMIC research project.

MIMIC is a research project launched in 2019 by artists Shu Okamoto (nihonga and manga) and Yohei Kumano (contemporary art). It has been designated a priority research project by the Archival Research Center (Geishiken) at Kyoto City University of Arts (KCUA) from the 2021 academic year onwards.

The project employs research and archives relating to currently active artists to explore how future art historians could talk about the artists, their works, and the localities where they are active. 
As the project name suggests, MIMIC researchers conduct research by mimicking the techniques, themes, and other characteristics in the practices of the artist or artists selected.
Using the works produced and dialogues recorded as part of this research process, the project is attempting to produce more accessible readings of the distinctive techniques used by the artists.

The first artist to be researched was oil painter Amane Ishii, who presented the solo exhibition Gaze Letter at imura art gallery in October 2021.
As part of the research, Okamoto produced oil paintings mimicking Ishii’s style. Okamoto normally works as a nihonga painter, but he is an artist of the same generation as Ishii, and some of the motifs that he uses in his own work—such as ghosts and picture-in-picture techniques—are similar to motifs used by Ishii. Okamoto was drawn to Ishii’s work by such similarities, along with the fact that she works in a medium with a different to that of his own practice. This combination was the key that resulted in the selection of Ishii as the artist to be researched.
Why the two artists came to share the same motifs is an interesting question. As is the question of what differences in orientation can be seen. Intermediated by Okamoto’s mimicking process, the research is suggesting a single standpoint from which to view not only Ishii’s paintings, but also other works of the same period by artist of the same generation. 

Functioning as a report on the outcome of research concerning Ishii, this exhibition presents archive video and works produced during the project. In addition, it presents two new works: one by Ishii and one by Okamoto.
MIMIC Research Archive Part 1 provides a valuable opportunity to think about contemporaneous painting, and about the art of Kyoto. A talk event concerning MIMIC and Ishii has also been scheduled during the exhibition period.