About
Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is delighted to present a body of new work by internationally renowned Japanese artist Yuken Teruya. Transforming the detritus of consumerism into beautifully crafted works of art, Teruya uses unfamiliar materials in a way that elevates details typically overlooked in quotidian life.
For this exhibition, Teruya will continue his Notice Forest series by fabricating a new line of shopping bags, including Chanel, Godiva, Graff, Maison du Chocolat, Cartier and Tiffany. Teruya's work provides a subtle commentary on the hegemonic power of consumer culture and its resultant impact on the global environment. However, the works are fundamentally an exploration of beauty. Mounted at a ninety-degree angle to the wall, each bag harbours a miniature, paper tree modelled from species planted on 5th Avenue in New York.
Discussing how Teruya's bags are made, Megan Ratner explains that he âbegins with photographs of trees, which he transfers to his computer, superimposing this image on the logo-ed side of a shopping bag. Using the original shape as a guide, he deftly cuts a two-part silhouette lower branches/trunk and leafy top folding and twisting the two halves into the interior of the bag, rooting the trunk with a single drop of glue.'
The exhibition will also feature works from the artist's ongoing Minding My Own Business series. This project was originally conceived in 2011 in response to photographs documenting the devastation incurred by the tsunami and earthquake in Japan.
For the show, Teruya has transformed an assortment of articles from the New York Times which document the social and political upheaval triggered by natural disasters and the current economic crisis. Tiny 'sprouts' emerge from the surface of the newspapers, exemplifying how life continues to flourish despite the unpredictable course of human life.
Born in Okinawa, Japan in 1973, and currently based in New York, Yuken Teruya's work is currently on show at the Saatchi Gallery as part of Paper. Since gaining his MFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2001, Teruya has exhibited internationally at venues including PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan; Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Ueno Royal Art Museum, Tokyo, and the Sydney Biennale 2012.
His work is represented in numerous international collections, including the Guggenheim Museum, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Saatchi Gallery, London, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo and Seattle Art Museum, Washington.
Please contact Jonathan Horrocks for further information on jonathan@houldsworth.co.uk.
