"Under the gaze of a cat" 34×16×14cm steatite stone 2017
Modern society enabled especially the women to live diverse ways of living and have new values which were completely incomparable with the past. It is said that gender stereotypes have become less prominent and today is even celebrated as an age for women’s empowerment, yet behind the scenes, there has been a long history with highlights and shadows.
Gallery Yamaki Fine Art has been introducing many solo exhibitions of women artists. Through engaging with these artists, we have come to realize that they did not always receive the right evaluation, and noticed furthermore of their difficulties of having to face institutional, social and notional barriers. On the other hand, keeping distance with such oppression, these women never gave up in presenting their works and challenged new mediums with a persistent attitude to pursue new and unique expressions.
By revisiting such backgrounds and expressions, we trace back the path of how female artists today have come to express their languages. And by doing so, we will question on what basis the artists had been evaluated, how their awareness have changed, taking the social backgrounds surrounding the situations of art and women into consideration. We hope that will lead to our deeper understanding.
The sixth exhibition features Kate Van Houten, who is originally from the USA and now lives and works in Paris. She initially created abstract paintings with stitching and landscape paintings, and has worked on a wide range of styles and techniques including drawings and printings. After a period when she focused on abstract paintings with powerful strokes of blue and yellow color, she broke new ground with stone sculptures in the 1990s. Fascinated by the form of natural materials, she makes us recognize its history as well as the graceful sensuality through her works. Her deep interest in nature and its materiality is reflected through various methods of her diverse artistic style. Her aim is to feel in touch with the resonance of nature through emotion, which unifies her works to create an entire universe of its own. The stillness and movement that belongs in both nature and human beings; when the two is combined, there will be a deeper understanding of Van Houten’s principle towards creative life.
Van Houten has traversed various media and made extensive use of their characteristics to develop her style. It is our pleasure to introduce the essence of Van Houten’s art by exhibiting the track of her career.
【Selected solo Exhibitions】
2012"Other Horizons" American University (Paris)
LADS Gallery (Osaka, Japan)
2015JARFO (Kyoto, Japan)
2017Friedrich Müller Gallery (Frankfurt)
2017Gallery Yamaki Fine Art , Hyogo, Japan
【Artist Information】
Kate Van Houten
SessionFri. Oct 13, 2017 - Fri. Nov 10, 2017 Closed on Sundays and Mondays
Hours11:00－13:00 / 14:00－19:00
PlaceGallery Yamaki Fine Art
Venue3-9-5-2F Motomachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0022
ContactTEL: 078-391-1666 FAX : 078-391-1667 MAIL: info@gyfa.co.jp
AccessOne minute walk from Motomachi Station, West exit (JR/ Hanshin Line)
ChargeFree
