28.10. — 03.12.2017


Mariella Mosler & Akihiro Higuchi - PAREIDOLIA

With the upcoming special exhibition "Pareidolia", opening 27.10.2017, Mikiko Sato Gallery presents Japanese and German contemporary art in direct dialogue for the first time. On display will be works from Mariella Mosler's series "Masks and Love Hearts" as well as sculptures by artist Akihiro Higuchi, who studied with Mosler as a student at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart in 2005 and 2006. Both artists seem to bring everyday objects to life by giving them human ... read more
With the upcoming special exhibition "Pareidolia", opening 27.10.2017, Mikiko Sato Gallery presents Japanese and German contemporary art in direct dialogue for the first time. On display will be works from Mariella Mosler's series "Masks and Love Hearts" as well as sculptures by artist Akihiro Higuchi, who studied with Mosler as a student at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart in 2005 and 2006. Both artists seem to bring everyday objects to life by giving them human or animal characteristics through skilful interventions and interaction with the material. While Mosler refers, among other things, to the ambivalent treatment of the "exotic" and "foreign" in European cultural history, Higuchi's works are based on the traditional Japanese belief in the soulfulness of nature.

The term "pareidolia" chosen for the exhibition refers to the human brain's tendency to reinterpret arbitrary patterns into familiar categories such as faces or objects. Hermann Rorschach already made use of this phenomenon when he developed the eponymous inkblot test almost a century ago.

In her series of masks, which began in 2006, Mosler uses everyday materials such as foam, cardboard or bubble wrap and in many cases patinates them with varnish in gold, bronze or silver. With the help of a few strategically placed holes, the artist creates the associative basis for eyes, noses and mouths. The masks appear to come to life at the moment they are viewed. The tension they provoke between art object and everyday object, a contrast that runs like a thread through Mosler's entire oeuvre, raises questions about the use and shifting values of masks, the symbol of the "wild" and "foreign" in European cultural and art history. In addition, works from the Love Hearts series are exhibited, in which Mosler made silver casts from sprouting heart potatoes, playfully referencing traditions of wonder or art chambers.

The traditional Japanese belief in the general soulfulness of nature, which extends to everyday objects, is the starting point for Akihiro Higuchi's current sculptural works. With the help of sophisticated sculptural interventions in the material, the artist gives old wooden objects animal or human facial features or even entire limbs. Similar to Mosler, Higuchi seemingly brings the objects to life. Rapture and shudder are always close together in view of the amazing liveliness of these objects. Works from the Collection series, in the form of miniature painted moths, are also on display.... show less

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