Akiko Nagino and Takahiko Sugawara - Catalogue

Akiko Nagino Takahiko Sugawara

4 August - 29 August 2022

Opening Event Saturday 6 August 2-5pm @ 163 Ocean Beach Road, Sorrento

Open 7 Days 10am - 5pm Sales: 0417 324 795 gallery@djprojects.net www.andgalleryaustralia.net Free Delivery & installation within Victoria

Akiko Nagino The Shiromuku is a traditional Japanese wedding kimono. The white colour symbolises purity and also the “death” of the woman in leaving her family to begin a new life with her husband and his family. It means, “I will die once, then be dyed with the traditional colours of my new family”. For women, marriage means taking over her husband’s family business and customs for the next generation. In Japan it is mandatory that when a person marries he or she will change their name but it is still expected that a women will change her name, otherwise they’re not allowed to get married.

For this piece I used the traditional kitukoumon, a hexagonal pattern based on a turtle’s shell, which is a well known symbol of long life in Japanese culture. Inside each hexagon I placed a different kamon (family crest) design. Kamon are commonly used in Japan as a symbol for families and traditional businesses, and are passed down through the generations.

These days we often talk about women’s rights. Even now some people believe that wives should be devoted to their husbands and his family and that women should always stay behind men and not offer their opinions. Especially when the husband’s family has a traditional shop, for example a kimono shop, wives will be expected to devote themselves to the shop too. Without these traditional ideas we wouldn’t have been able to take over traditional skills. Today the kimono is well known as a representative of Japanese culture and requires many different skills to make. However, there are numerous invisible traditional and cultural ideas behind this beautiful garment.

Myself, I cannot agree that when we are married we have to devote ourselves to our husbands and our husband’s family, but if we didn’t have those traditional ideas and cultural attitudes we wouldn’t have the kimono today.

Akiko Nagino Biography Akiko studied Japanese Lacquer and has leaned a variety of traditional skills in Japan. She loves her Japanese culture and in the course of learning Japanese Lacquer, she developed a traditional style and has learned apply a range of different techniques.

Currently she is experimenting with more primitive expressions.

About Artwork When I think something is beautiful, there also must be some aspect of it that horrifies me. What is beautiful is always paired with what is unsightly, and they form a duality that is fascinating.

Butterflies are beautiful, but what you feel turns to fear once you see their gaudy patterns and scales. I’ve been deathly afraid of butterflies for a long time, but even still I can’t take my eyes off of them. As someone who is unavoidably aware of how much butterfly patterns frighten me, I have become very keen to notice the patterns around me. Plants, fish scales, groups of insects, bird feathers, cracks in the pavement, rusted-over paint--the appearance of something being encroached upon is beautiful, and at the same time some part of it is unsettling.

Takahiko Sugawara I love repetition, layering and overlap.

These ideas are rooted in my teenage years when I was in the number one high school marching band in Japan. As a band, we performed in many different configurations.

If someone was absent there would be a gap, an empty space in the pattern. Incomplete patterns were frustrating, and in my artwork I want to create complete shapes and consistent patterns.

My experiences with patterns and shapes directly influence my ideas concerning form, layering, overlapping and repetition. I commonly use 3mm corten steel cut into different shapes with a plasma cutter, often with beeswax covering the sculpture surface.

Takahiko Sugawara Biography Taka was born in Italy in 1979. Growing up, he was surrounded by stunning art pieces like sculptures and paintings. As both parents were both artists.

After two decades, Taka became determined to become a sculptor like his father.

Taka completed a masters degree in a sculpture course in 2007. During this degree he made many large metal sculptures. Moreover, he spent the majority of his university life at a metal studio.

During one semester, he had the opportunity to study at Berlin Art University and he studied there for half a year. However, unfortunately, he wasn’t allowed to make metal sculptures there, so he decided to work with wood and create wood sculptures instead.

In 2012, Taka moved to Melbourne in Australia and attended to many sculpture exhibitions. In recent years, he has been based in Ballarat in Regional Victoria and has continued to make metal sculptures in his studio while also working as a boiler maker at a construction company.

1. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 10 x 35 x 24cm $2,500

2. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 170 x 22 x 10cm $4,500

3. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 164 x 17 x 9cm $3,500

4. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 130 x 180 x 60cm $50,000

5. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 170 x 18 x 13cm $4,500

6. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 180 x 16 x 12cm $4,500

7. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 100 x 8 x 7cm $3,000

8. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 170 x 20 x 14cm $5,000

9. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 100 x 15 x 12cm $3,000

10. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 80 x 8 x 6cm $3,000

11. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 70 x 15 x 7cm $3,500

12. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 170 x 12 x 7cm $4,000

13. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 12 x 38 x 30cm $4,500

14. Akiko Nagino Kimono #1 Paper and rust 174 x 120 x 8cm $20,000

15. Akiko Nagino Kimono #2 Paper 174 x 120 x 8cm $25,000

16. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 10 x 20 x 12cm $2,000

17. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 17 x 24 x 14cm $2,000

18. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 15 x 220 x 17cm $10,000

19. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 10 x 27 x 12cm $3,500

20. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 10 x 30 x 11cm $3,500

21. Akiko Nagino Untitled Paper and rust 25 x 150 x 14cm $5,500

22. Takahiko Sugawara Untitled Corten 14 x 60 x 17cm $4,500