Born and raised in Hiroshima, a region rich in seas and rivers, Kawamoto has long held a deep interest in water. While studying dyeing at Hiroshima City University, she deepened her investigation into materials and developed a distinctive mode of expression that evokes ripples on the water’s surface through experimental techniques using foaming binders.
In her ongoing Reflection series, begun in 2023, Kawamoto focuses on two phenomena: reflections cast onto the surface of water and the shimmering glare produced by reflected light. From April to May of this year, she presented these themes in a solo exhibition titled Mizukage – Double Reflection at it’s CUBE, iti SETOUCHI (Fukuyama, Hiroshima). The present exhibition further develops both the title and the new approaches introduced there.
The word mizukage (written 水影) is an archaic Japanese term that encompasses two kinds of reflection produced by water: mirrored images and reflected glare—what Kawamoto refers to as “double reflection.” In researching this word, she discovered an alternative reading, suiei, which refers to “road mirage”: a phenomenon in which what appears to be a pool of water in the distance recedes further away as one approaches.
In her previous work Mizukage – Double Reflection (2/2), Kawamoto proposed a new approach by expressing the fluctuating glare on the water’s surface through moiré patterns—interference stripes generated by layering the weave structures of fabric. Continuing her investigation into this phenomenon, she noticed that under certain conditions these patterns exhibit a peculiar behavior: they appear when viewed from afar, yet disappear as the viewer draws closer.
This visual effect closely resembles the phenomenon of suiei, which can only be perceived at a distance. There is a modest inevitability in the fact that the moiré patterns Kawamoto explored in pursuit of mizukage (reflections on water) came to manifest in a way that evokes suiei (mirage). Moreover, the behavior of these interference patterns—observable only from afar—has led her inquiry toward a more fundamental reconsideration of how vision itself is constituted.
Centering on works that employ moiré patterns, this exhibition presents a new body of work that examines our spatial perception and relativity of cognition through the illusory presence of suiei. Beginning with the expression of rippling relief formed by foaming binders, Kawamoto’s current practice unfolds across and beyond the boundaries of craft and painting, as well as between two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms, offering a view of her inquiry as it continues to expand.
Please check the below site for schedule and place
コメント