BLUM & POE KYOTO, COCON KARASUMA

HAPPENINGText: Amelia Ijiri

Happening now in a pop-up exhibition space in downtown Kyoto, two or three representative works from seven emerging and established contemporary artists are brought together by Blum & Poe, an LA-Based art gallery. Alma Allen’s “Not yet titled,” 2015 is a bronze sculpture representative of his work in stone, bronze, and metal to create forms that have been compared to Isamu Noguchi in expressiveness and spirit.


Installation view, 2021. Cocon Karasuma, Kyoto, Japan. Courtesy of the artists and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles/New York/Tokyo. Photo: Takeru Koroda

March Avery’s “Hill Town” uses signature yellow, green, and blue balanced in negative space to create a graphically illustrated moment. Kazunori Hamana has four large and delicate Japanese tsubo-jar-vase-like vessels, “Untitled,” 2021, showcasing the spirit of clay that this self-taught ceramist is known for.


Installation view, 2021. Cocon Karasuma, Kyoto, Japan. Courtesy of the artists and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles/New York/Tokyo. Photo: Takeru Koroda

Friedrich Kunath’s works: two oil paintings and a bronze sculpture have his unique characteristic of merging melancholy themes with cartoon imagery and commercial illustration. In oil and soft pastel, Mimi Lauter’s “Miniature Erect No Monument,” 2018 is characteristic of her chromatic works that point to the tradition of still life, implicating interior and psychological spaces.


Installation view, 2021. Cocon Karasuma, Kyoto, Japan. Courtesy of the artists and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles/New York/Tokyo. Photo: Takeru Koroda

Kenjiro Okazaki’s four small acrylic paintings give audiences not only the tactile experience of viewing art but also invite us to his wide range of references from philosophical or art historical objects to the native American’s myth that the artist recalled in the course of his production. Finally, Tony Lewis, who works with graphic powder, achieved his sketchy smudged look in “Her,” 2021.

Exhibited in a warehouse pop-up space, this textural and graphically rich exhibition is held in tandem with a pianist playing at the Skwat Hertz transdisciplinary art/ music/ fashion space.

Blum & Poe at Cocon Karasuma
Date: November 3rd – December 26th, 2021
Open: 13:00 – 19:00
Place: Cocon Karasuma 301
Address: 620 Suiginya-cho, Karasuma-dori Shijo-sagaru, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto 
https://www.blumandpoe.com

Text: Amelia Ijiri
Photos: Takeru Koroda, Courtesy of the artists and Blum & Poe

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