MAIO MOTOKO
Extraordinary Perspectives
MAIO MOTOKO
麻 殖 生 素 子
Lesley Kehoe Galleries Ground Floor, 101 Collins St, Melbourne, Australia Copyright © Lesley Kehoe Galleries 2016 First Published 2016 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Copyright Act 1968 of Australia, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retreival system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of Lesley Kehoe Galleries. Published by : Lesley Kehoe Galleries Author : Lesley Kehoe Design : Byron Kehoe Artwork Creative Direction: M-Studio Artwork Photography : Copyright © Sadao Hotta 堀田貞雄 2016 Title page image : Copyright © William Hung 2016 Studio Photograpy : Copyright © Byron Bowman Kehoe 2016 Printed in Australia
MAIO MOTOKO Extraordinary Perspectives
LESLEY KEHOE GALLERIES
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LESLEY KEHOE GALLERIES
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
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WORKS RESILIENCE
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LIFE’s SYMPHONY
50
WHEN WORDS FAIL
80
FUROSAKI SCREENS
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ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
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MAIO MOTOKO
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LESLEY KEHOE GALLERIES
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LESLEY KEHOE GALLERIES
“In Japan, the ideas of ‘hare’ and ‘ke’, the extraordinary and the mundane, were deeply embedded. Life was lived in a rhythm of separating the special and the ordinary. The folding screen, which is not ‘always’ there, is manifest in the fleeting moment of the extraordinary. We are in a reality of irreplaceable sensations and experience. For me, a screen is something which exists both in the moment and in the infinite.”
maio motoko
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LESLEY KEHOE GALLERIES
MAIO MOTOKO Extraordinary Perspectives
A great contemporary artist must satisfy several criteria: Acknowledgment of tradition, cultural and artistic, yet transcending it; mastery of technique and creative use thereof; articulated philosophy; and the ‘x’ factor, the artist’s unique spiritual expression which inspires the inexpressible ‘wow’ that announces the presence of greatness. Maio Motoko, contemporary screen artist, satisfies these criteria. Maio remains true to the traditional function of the folding screen in manipulating physical space. Her reinterpretation – double hinges, differentially sized folds and reverse sided decoration – enables a flexibility of form and transformation of physical space that both embraces and transcends the intention of the traditional screen. Mastery of technique is obvious. She brings to the canvas of the folding screen mundane materials – aluminium foil, crushed stone, sand, dirt, iron rust- that provide a freedom of colour and texture unimaginable in traditional work. Maio’s artistic concept embodies the contradictions and harmonies of Yin and Yang and their manifestation in human experience. She is unafraid to explore the negative, the dark, the decay and transience of life, juxtaposing it with the positive, light and fecund. With a powerful, visceral and seductive aesthetic appeal is a concurrent psychic impact reflecting the universality of human experience.
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As sculptural objects her works stand in a variety of formations, giving no hint to alternative manifestations. The unique thirteen fold screen compacts to a mysterious trapezoid standing alone as a sculptural object, totally concealing its potential as a massive canvas. As functional art, Maio’s works give unprecedented flexibility to the transformation of space and to the creative instincts of the end user: “These screens, a crystallization of my own experiences, in the hands of the ‘other’ transform into something entirely new”. Maio’s unique contribution lies in the interplay of form and concept – Yin and Yang counterpoints allow the manipulation of emotional and psychic space, as the material form allows the manipulation of physical space. Maio Motoko has recreated the traditional Japanese folding screen giving it new life in a contemporary international context. She has moved beyond boundaries of time, space, form and culture. She will undoubtedly be recognized as one of the great artists of the 21st century. Lesley Kehoe BA MA FRAS
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MAIO MOTOKO
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MAIO MOTOKO
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抗 aragau
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resilience one
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Aragau
Resilience | one
12 Fold Screen
152 x 372 cm
60.8 x 148.8 inches
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抗 aragau
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resilience two
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Aragau
Resilience | two
12 Fold Screen
152 x 372 cm
60.8 x 148.8 inches
MAIO MOTOKO
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抗 aragau
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resilience three
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Aragau
Resilience | three
2 x 6 Fold Screens
152 x 186 cm (each)
60.8 x 74.4 inches (each)
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曲 kyoku
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life’s symphony two
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Kyoku
Life’s Symphony | two
4 x 2 Fold Screens 4 Screen Installation
124 x 123 cm (each) 124 x 492 cm
49.6 x 49.2 inches (each) 49.6 x 196.8 inches
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曲 kyoku
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life’s symphony three
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Kyoku
Life’s Symphony | three
13 Fold Screen - 1 x 6 Fold Screen - 1 x 4 Fold Screen - 1 x 3 Fold Screen
183 x 517 cm 183 x 175 cm 183 x 177 cm 183 x 165 cm
73.2 x 206.8 inches 73.2 x 70 inches 73.2 x 70.8 inches 73.2 x 66 inche3
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曲 kyoku
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life’s symphony four
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Kyoku
Life’s Symphony | four
13 Fold Screen - 1 x 8 Fold Screen - 1 x 5 Fold Screen
183 x 518 cm 183 x 260 cm 183 x 258 cm
73.2 x 207.2 inches 73.2 x 104 inches 73.2 x 103.2 inches
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文 字 moji
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when words fail !! are sore yare hare nanzo en
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When Words Fail !!
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6 Screen Installation
6 x 2 Fold Screens
92 x 555 cm
36.8 x 222 inches
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X 84
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Y
Moji
When Words Fail !!
2 Fold Screen
92 x 92.5 cm
36.8 x 37 inches
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あ れ are
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そ れ sore
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や れ yare
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は れ hare
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な ん ぞ nanzo
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え ん en
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furosaki screens
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X
曲水
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Kyokusui
Meandering Stream
Pair of 2 fold Furosaki Screens
48.5 x 180 cm (each)
19.4 x 72 inches (each)
Y
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102
103
X
光明
104
Koumyou
Emanation | one
2 fold Furosaki Screen
48.5 x 180 cm
19.4 x 72 inches
Y
105
X
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107
X
光明 108
Koumyou
Emanation | two
2 fold Furosaki Screen
48.5 x 180 cm
19.4 x 72 inches
Y
109
X
ć šć?Ľ
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Negoro
Negoro
2 fold Furosaki Screen
48.5 x 180 cm
19.4 x 72 inches
Y
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X
春慶 112
Shunkei
Shunkei
2 fold Furosaki Screen
48.5 x 180 cm
19.4 x 72 inches
Y
113
X
柘榴 114
Zakuro
Pomegranate
2 fold Furosaki Screen
48.5 x 180 cm
19.4 x 72 inches
Y
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MAIO MOTOKO Selected Biography
1948
Born Tokyo
1970
Graduated Rikkyo (St Paul’s) University
1980 Commenced Study Of Scroll Mounting With Kashu Yabuta 1986
Commenced Study Of Screen Making With Kobayashi Kenji
1992
Solo Exhibition Nihonbashi Tokyu
1995
Two Man Show With Kobayashi Kenji Matsuya Ginza, Also 1997
1999
Group Exhibition Nagai Gallery Tokyo
2000 Two Man Show With Wada Makoto “Mother Goose” Nagai Gallery,Tokyo
Three Man Show Geneva With Koie Ryoji And Kado Isaburo
2003 Mugen Lesley Kehoe Galleries, Melbourne 2004 Three Man Show With Hakko Ishitobi And Kobayashi Koji Geneva
International Asian Art Fair, New York Lesley Kehoe Galleries
International Art And Design Fair, New York Lesley Kehoe Galleries
2008 Japan! Culture + Hyperculture Festival Kennedy Center Washington DC
Lecture Sackler Gallery Smithsonian Institute
2009 ‘09 Expo’ Kiyomizu Temple Kyoto
‘Touch Fire’ Smith College Museum of Art, North Hampton, MA
2010 ‘Modern Twist’ The Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas, Texas, USA (Solo show in conjunction
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with Japanese baskets.)
KanHikari Art Expo, Nijo Castle, Kyoto
2011
Fleeting Moments Solo Exhibition Lesley Kehoe Galleries Melbourne Australia
KanHikari Art Expo Sennyuji Temple, Kyoto
2012
‘Craft Spoken Here’ Philadelphia Musuem of Art, USA
2013
KanHikari Art Expo, Kamakura & Kyoto
Deconstructing Tradition : Contemporary Japan Lesley Kehoe Galleries, Asia Week New York, NY
Brush Writing in the Arts of Japan, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Sydney Contemporary, Lesley Kehoe Galleries, Sydney Australia
2014
‘Byobu : The Grandeur of Japanese Screens’, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, USA
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COLLECTIONS Metropolitan Musuem of Art, New York Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Chan Palay Collection, New York Fuji Xerox, Karuizawa, Japan German Embassy, Tokyo Honda Soichiro Collection, Tokyo Peggy and Richard Danziger Collection, New York Shiozuki Yaeko, Eldest daughter of 14th Iemoto Tantansai, Urasenke School Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts Private Collections, Japan, USA, Australia, Europe
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Lesley Kehoe Galleries Ground Floor, 101 Collins St, Melbourne, Australia Copyright © Lesley Kehoe Galleries 2016 First Published 2016 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Copyright Act 1968 of Australia, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retreival system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of Lesley Kehoe Galleries. Published by : Lesley Kehoe Galleries Author : Lesley Kehoe Design : Byron Kehoe Artwork Creative Direction: M-Studio Artwork Photography : Copyright © Sadao Hotta 堀田貞雄 2016 Title page image : Copyright © William Hung 2016 Studio Photograpy : Copyright © Byron Bowman Kehoe 2016 Printed in Australia
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