December 12, 2022
On November 11, the Keio Museum Commons (KeMCo) held a public talk with artist Enrico Isamu Oyama and sculptor Noe Aoki as a related event to Oyama's ongoing solo exhibition at KeMCo,Enrico Isamu Oyama: Altered Dimension.
Enrico Isamu Oyama is an alumnus of Keio University and draws inspiration from street art culture in which people mark city spaces with their names in the form of stylized signatures. Oyama abstracts and reinterprets the shapes of these letters into a personalized motif, "Quick Turn Structure," and has exhibited his works in a variety of mediums. He has completed two works at Keio, a mural at the Keio Shiki Senior High School in 2003 and a commissioned work in Mita’s first-ever creative studio, "KeMCo StudI/O," to celebrate the completion of the East Annex in 2020.
For his current exhibition at KeMCo,Altered Dimension, which began on October 17, Oyama has reached a new approach in his unique thinking by expanding upon the issue of "frontality" of the expressions he has confronted over the years. This involves exploring the fluctuations of identification and differentiation that occur when converting two-dimensional images into three-dimensional objects.
For the talk event, KeMCo invited Noe Aoki, a sculptor, to converse with Oyama and share her comments and thoughts on theAltered Dimensionexhibition. Throughout the event, both artists discussed a variety of topics including how they generate their three-dimensional works from flat surfaces and construct a work in a specific "site" as well as the types of materials they use and the relationship between these materials and their creations.
Oyama, who reconsiders the realities of three-dimensionality at the opportunity of this exhibition, asked Aoki about her fine balance in creating air-like expressions with heavy materials such as iron. She spoke frankly about her thinking on materials and creation as an artist who has spent a lot of time working with iron plates. The dialogue between the two artists presented a unique opportunity to learn about the underlying ways they use completely different materials and techniques to communicate a sense of floating and expansion.
The exhibition ends on Friday, December 16. A recorded version of the talk event is available on KeMCo website.
[Exhibition] Enrico Isamu Oyama: Altered Dimension
Dates: October 17 (Mon.)–December 16 (Fri.)
Closed on Weekends and Holidays
Monday–Wednesday: 11:00–17:00
Thursday–Friday: 11:00–19:00
Venue: Keio Museum Commons (Mita Campus East Annex)
Organizer: Keio Museum Commons
Contributors: Takuro Someya Contemporary Art, Nakagawa Chemical Inc.
Photo: Takeshi Kishi