© Calm & Punk Gallery / Photography: Yutaro Tagawa – Exhibition setting

A graduate of both Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and Tokyo University of the Arts where she obtained a Master of Film and New Media degree, Asako Fujikura (1992) is a rising visual artist to watch. Born and bred in Saitama, an integral part of the sprawling Tokyo metropolitan area, Fujikura artistic sensibilities are totally in sync with bustling urban life. The artist accentuates images with artificial textures and tactile sensations, assembling scenes that can free us from the continuation of time and sprawl in the modern city. The scenes materialise from industrial goods designed, manufactured, and installed by humans. Overwhelmed by the excess of the city, these items deviate from their programmed functions and from human control. As naked objects, they derive a peculiar trace of spirituality and a primal animism. On a plane where things exist as things, they render a form which will go on to possess autonomy. Interweaving three-dimensional computer-generated animation techniques and computer programming, Fujikura generates movement that surpasses even the creator’s intentions and devises a fabricated realisation which can be perceived only through a screen.

The artist’s solo exhibition at Calm & Punk Gallery in Tokyo, entitled Paradise for Free, is a continuation of sorts of her previous body of work in which industrial products and massive artefacts found in urban spaces are detached from their original signifiers, contrasting them to depict new styles of 3D landscapes. At this show, visitors witness the emergence of Fujikura’s ‘paradise’, her subsequent childhood motif. Envisioned from the beginning of her career, the 3D animation transcends its medium and gradually takes shape in the physical space. Interestingly, Fujikura’s interest in paradise began when she learned about ancient Persian gardens while studying Persian as an undergraduate. Later on, her focus later extended to Japanese gardens. Windows and steps adorn her paradise’s imagery that mimics nature – a bamboo representing a stream of water, a sunrise – drawing viewers into a vacillating in-between space. In the exhibition setting, the artist has incorporated countless bamboo poles throughout the venue to represent waterways and presents various works, from sculptures responding to 3D animation, to two-dimensional pieces depicting the landscapes (on through Apr 6).

Calm & Punk Gallery
1-15-15 Nishi Azabu (Nishi Azabu)
Tokyo 106-0031

© Calm & Punk Gallery / Photography: Yutaro Tagawa (exhibition setting) / Works by Asako Fujikura