Overview
Koki Tanaka is a mixed-media artist who uses video and found objects to create iconic reflections of everyday life. Combining humor with social criticism, he manipulates everyday objects in their surroundings, releasing them from any utilitarian function they may have to create an entirely new meaning. Using banal objects in a playful way, Tanaka disrupts conventional relations between objects and challenges our preconceived notions about them to create a new and different aesthetic experience for the viewer.
For YBCA, Tanaka will produce a new series of "temporary sculptures." He will also develop a new series of videos documenting spontaneous actions made at specific sites in San Francisco, including the artist getting a haircut by seven different hair stylists from various diverse neighborhoods around the city. The public will be invited to travel with the artist to various sites in San Francisco to further develop works with found objects that will then be used to produce photographs and videos for the exhibition.
A limited edition print of "The Play" — one of the works in Koki Tanaka's 2010 exhibition at YBCA — is now available from Art + Culture Editions. The print is 16x20 inch archival pigment ink on cotton rag paper in an edition of 100 and sells for $150 ($135 for YBCA members*). To order, go to http://aceditions.com/products/the-play.
* YBCA members please contact the membership department at membership@ybca.org for the member promotion code.
Curator Statement
The exhibition Nothing related, but something could be associated is a series of new commissioned works by Koki Tanaka premiering at YBCA. These works are part of the Big Idea Dare: Innovations in art, action, audience. Through video, sculpture, and photography Tanaka's modes of practice as well tactics combine ideas and actions that attempt to challenges the viewer’s relationship to art by reinventing everyday life and finding hidden beauty in ordinary materials. As a public component, Tanaka developed a lecture series to explore contemporary Japanese art (1950–present) as presented by art historians. To further engage the community, Tanaka will participate in workshops with the public to develop video, photo and performance art that will be incorporated into the exhibition.
Artist Bio
Koki Tanaka was born in Japan in 1975 and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. He mainly produces video and installations, many of which are site-specifically developed. He often deals with everyday commodities and surroundings with a conceptual approach and subtle control, creating a visual sphere that challenges the mundane and the rational embedded in the minds of the viewers. In doing so, he lets the work entice them into a spontaneous and aesthetic experience. Tanaka’s work has been shown widely in and outside the U.S., including the Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), the Palais de Tokyo (Paris), the Taipei Biennial (Taiwan), the Gwangju Biennial (South Korea), the Busan Biennial (South Korea), the Asia Society (New York), the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles).
www.kktnk.com
YBCA's programs are made possible in part by:
The San Francisco Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
Koret Foundation
Adobe Foundation Fund
Novellus
YBCA Exhibitions 10–11 is made possible in part by:
Meridee Moore and Kevin King, CEC ArtsLink and Members of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Le Meridian
Free First Tuesdays
Underwritten by Directors Forum Members
Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, Aoyama Meguro Gallery, Vitamin Creative Space, Art and Culture Editions and Electric Works
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