PHANTASM, a four-person show by Japanese artists Rena Kudoh, Taeko Maezawa, Risa Takahashi, and Aico Tsumori, is being presented by LaiSun Keane and will be on display from January 6 through February 26, 2023. The gallery will host an opening reception on Friday, January 6 from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Additionally, this will be Kudoh, Takahashi, and Tsumori’s first show in the United States and their first exhibition ever in Boston, Massachusetts.
This show brings together dream and reality as four female artists present their diverse bodies of work. The works on display draw inspiration from many different sources, including childhood recollections, Japanese fairytales, and even the drawings of the artists’ own children. Two separate generations created these pieces, with one painter and one ceramicist both having been born in the 1970s, and the others in the 1990s. Despite their differences in age, these painters have similar uses of surreal and fantasy in their work, producing intriguing creations that combine the two worlds.
Japanese ceramic sculptor Kudoh, born in Miyagi Prefecture in 1994, bases her works on her recollections and fantasies. Her biomorphic, fantastical sculptures push the boundaries of clay. Kudoh’s fanciful teapot, cup, and other practical pots, as well as a variety of bizarre hybrid animals, are on display for this exhibition. Her enormous sculpture of a two-headed “sailor moon” is evidence of her creative imagination. Kudoh has held numerous exhibitions of her work in Japan and South Korea. She has also taken part in numerous art residencies both domestically and abroad. She finished residencies at the Peters Valley School of Craft in Sandyston, New Jersey; Penland School of Crafts in Bakersville, North Carolina; and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine; all in the United States in 2019.
Japanese mixed media artist Taeko Maezawa (born 1977 in Shizuoka) draws inspiration for her work from nature, childhood memories, and the folklore “Taketori Monogatari.” This legend served as the basis for the 2013 Academy Award-nominated film “The Tale of Kaguyahime,” and it can be observed in Maezawa’s works, many of which include delicately woven ethereal natural motifs. From Japan and France to Bangladesh, South Korea, China, the Czech Republic, and the USA, Maezawa has displayed her work all over the world. She received her education at Kyoto University as well as Toho Eizo Abe Bijutsu, Tama Art University in Tokyo, and Paris, France’s Cité internationale des Arts. Maezawa’s works transport viewers to a surreal, otherworldly setting, and she is able to incorporate her love of Japanese folktales and kimono patterns with her own unique memories and experiences to create genuinely unique pieces.
Aico Tsumori is a ceramic artist who draws inspiration for her three-dimensional ceramic sculptures from her daughter’s drawings. She was born in Shiga Prefecture, Japan, in 1979. Tsumori brings her daughter’s imaginative drawings to reality by combining her skills in sculpting, moulding, glazing, and burning.