Installations Kioto - Nara
Tonia Kos
2017
Artist Statement
The ink paintings on Japanese paper, conceptualized as Japanese scrolling paintings, mutate into 25-meters long loops and were displayed as installations in Kurashiki in 2017. Other delicate lines, sensitive shades applied with rubbing ink seem to draw back on the thin paper, which is given a length of 2 meters. Partial surfaces are thickened, object-like, overshadows, overlays, develop a three-dimensional formal language. These paper loops flutter around ancient tree trunks in the Imperial Park in Kyoto and are carried on by me to temples in Nara. The paper strips connect my stays in Japan through installations at different sites.
Since 1998, at the Symposium in Hiroshima, I have been connected with Japan not only through art, but also through friendship, as my travels have always taken me to this culturally rich country. Through my dear friend in Kyoto who is a jewelry designer, we have been exhibiting together in Austria and Japan for years. I feel integrated in this family. I was able to experience the old cultural assets in amazement in the Noh theatre, in the Kabuki theatre, in the temples in Nikko, Kamakura and Kyoto. The hope would be that these art treasures would continue to have their validity in daily life and be cared for, and will not degenerate into a museum piece.
Artist Bio
Prof. Tonia Kos, b. 1942 Selected international exhibitions: 1995 Hangzhou, Beijing 1998 Hiroshima Symposium “Steel art connection” Japan, Berlin / Germany, London / England 2000 Ulan Bator / Mongolia, Basel / Switzerland, Peru, Egypt, Czech Republic 2000 Porton Cultur Center/ Okinawa Prefecture/ Japan 2001 St. Petersburg / Russia 2007 & 2008 Museum Kurashiki, Kyoto, / Japan 2008 Gallery Suyn Nagoya 2010 Art Space Maeumdeungbul Seoul / Korea, 2010 Community House / Kyoto / Japan 2011 ART FAIR Shanghai / China 2018 Udine, Verona / Italy 2015 Gallery Suyn Nagoya 2019 Gallery Hillgate / Kyoto Japan, 2019 Grafik / Tokyo Gallery