‘New Mythologies’, is a new solo exhibition of bronze sculptures, watercolour paintings and felt sculptures by Japanese artist Masako Miki. The San Francisco show is on view at CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions’ new location within Yves Behar’s global design firm Fuseproject.
These hyper-polished bronzes in explosive pop colours and playful motifs continue Miki’s exploration of the Shinto concept of the Tsukumogami yōkai – shape-shifting spirits that occupy household objects. In this folklore, inanimate objects can become sentient beings.
Masako Miki, left: Ichiren-Bozu (Animated prayer beads), 2021; centre: Kuchisake – Onnna (Mouth tear woman), 2021, right: Nyoijizai (Animated back-scratcher), 2021, all painted bronze.
Miki is best known for her anthropomorphic yōkai sculptures made on a human scale from brightly coloured felt wool. For these new works, in collaboration with Artworks Foundry in Berkeley, the artist tackled bronze casting and pushed the medium to its limits.
‘Bronze sculptures have a beautiful presence with a patina finish that offers curvilinear movement in my work. I have combined both patina and very subtle layers of paint to create flickering optical illusions of colour, which emphasize movement and highlight the shape of form,’ says Miki.
Left: Connecting Shapeshifter, 2021; right: Contemplating Chestnut Shapeshifter, both cast bronze with automobile paint and urethane. Courtesy of the artist and CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions
Miki has put a modern twist on the age-old process by densely layering opalescent car paint to create silky, frictionless surfaces. The results are easy on the eye, but it takes work to get under their skin.
The artist’s spirits occupy liminal and fluid notions: secular and non-secular, animate and inanimate. They also explore the nuances of non-binary spaces: between gender, biracial identities and her own experience as a Japanese immigrant woman living on the intersection of two cultures.
Installation view: Masako Miki, ’New Mythologies’ at CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions. Courtesy of CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions
In addition to the show, Miki recently released a series of her bronze yōkai spirits into the public realm. The outdoor art installation, titled Holographic Entities Reminding of the Universe was commissioned to inaugurate Uber Technologies’ new campus in Mission Bay, San Francisco.
‘My sculptures have been shape-shifting in materials from paper to felted wool and now, in innovating on the appearance of bronze with new form and materials for a contemporary audience. These evolutions are a natural process because the essence of the shapeshifters is fluidity.’
Masako Miki, Animated Back Scratcher, 2020. Uber Public Art Installation: Holographic Entities Reminding of the Universe. Courtesy of the artist
Masako Miki, Ichiren-Bozu (Animated prayer beads), 2021, painted bronze. Courtesy of the artist and CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions
Masako Miki, Mint Nopperabō (Faceless ghost), 2021, cast bronze with automobile paint and urethane. Courtesy of the artist and CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions
Masako Miki, left: Animated Pine Tree, 2021; middle: Animated Hinoki Tree, 2021; right: Dango Mushi Ghost (Roly-Polly Insect Shapeshifter), 2021, all wool on EPS foam, walnut wood. Courtesy of the artist and CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions
Installation view: Masako Miki, ’New Mythologies’ at CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions. Courtesy of CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions
Installation view: Masako Miki, ’New Mythologies’ at CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions. Courtesy of CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions
INFORMATION
Masako Miki, ’New Mythologies’, until 25 September, 2021, CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions. cultexhibitions.com
ADDRESS
1401 16th St
San Francisco, CA94103
-
Nela is London's new stage for open-fire gastronomyA beloved Amsterdam import brings live-fire elegance to The Whiteley’s grand revival
-
How we host: with Our Place founder, Shiza ShahidWelcome, come on in, and take a seat at Wallpaper*s new series 'How we host' where we dissect the art of entertaining. Here, we speak to Our Place founder Shiza Shahid on what makes the perfect dinner party, from sourcing food in to perfecting the guest list, and yes, Michelle Obama is invited
-
Matteo Thun carves a masterful thermal retreat into the Canadian RockiesBasin Glacial Waters, a project two decades in the making, finally surfaces at Lake Louise, blurring the boundaries between architecture and terrain
-
Yuko Mohri’s living installations play on Marcel Duchamp’s surrealismThe artist’s seven new works on show at Milan’s Pirelli HangarBicocca explore the real and imaginary connections that run through society
-
Get the picture? A new exhibition explores the beautiful simplicity of Japanese pictogramsThe simple, minimalist forms of a pictogram are uniquely Japanese, as new exhibition 'Pictograms: Iconic Japanese Designs' illustrates
-
What is recycling good for, asks Mika Rottenberg at Hauser & Wirth MenorcaUS-based artist Mika Rottenberg rethinks the possibilities of rubbish in a colourful exhibition, spanning films, drawings and eerily anthropomorphic lamps
-
See the fruits of Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely's creative and romantic union at Hauser & Wirth SomersetAn intimate exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset explores three decades of a creative partnership
-
Technology, art and sculptures of fog: LUMA Arles kicks off the 2025/26 seasonThree different exhibitions at LUMA Arles, in France, delve into history in a celebration of all mediums; Amy Serafin went to explore
-
Inside Yinka Shonibare's first major show in AfricaBritish-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare is showing 15 years of work, from quilts to sculptures, at Fondation H in Madagascar
-
Inside Jack Whitten’s contribution to American contemporary artAs Jack Whitten exhibition ‘Speedchaser’ opens at Hauser & Wirth, London, and before a major retrospective at MoMA opens next year, we explore the American artist's impact
-
Frieze Sculpture takes over Regent’s ParkTwenty-two international artists turn the English gardens into a dream-like landscape and remind us of our inextricable connection to the natural world
