Asami Kiyokawa

Curator’s Text: Title: 《Our story》

Asami Kiyokawa’s works are exhibited on the second and third floors of an old, three-storey Japanese kura [storehouse]. Surrounding the works are wooden-planked floors and walls, giving the rooms both an inhospitable and warm feel. In this unique space are nine of Kiyokawa’s works and, on the second floor, are some book-based works placed on easels. These books are carefully embroidered where the threads overflow from within the pages. For Etude in E major, Op10 No.3 “Tristesse”, Kiyokawa uses a musical score and embroiders patterns onto the pages that suggest a constructivist-like design that beats to a rhythm. One of them is a newly commissioned work, taken from the Japanese mythology of the Konohananosakuya-hime [Princess Blossom]. On the third floor is a large, materialistic, and painterly work that is the newest addition to her Serendipity series. Embroidery is a technique of the thread and, therefore, introducing thread into painting is to sculpt a painting. Going back and forth between the two- and three-dimensional spaces, Kiyokawa is creating poetry of painting, music, and literature.

Artist Profile: Asami Kiyokawa
Asami Kiyokawa (b. 1979, Awaji Island, Hyogo, Japan) gained recognition as an amateur model in the 1990s and began her artistic practice centering on the possibilities of fashion and self-expression while studying fashion and clothing at the Bunka Fashion College during the 2000s. Since her first solo show SAUCE in 2001, Kiyokawa has held many exhibitions in Japan and abroad which has constantly been highly reviewed. As we are exposed to the influx of information through many media such as magazines and social media, Kiyokawa focuses on and illustrates the discrepancies and contradictions that exist in the intersection between our internal and external identities as individuals. She is known for her unique technique of embroidering on photographs, magazine pages, books, and fabric; her representative works including the Bijo Saishu [Female Beauty Collection] series, the Complex series, and the TOKYO MONSTER series. Recently, she has expanded her practice to other creative fields such as costume design, advertisements, spatial- and product designs, and making videos. Kiyokawa also creates picture books and advocates for the revitalization of Awaji Island.