From November 10, 2023 to December 24, 2023, Being Art Museum (Jinqiao Biyun Art Museum / 金桥碧云美术馆) Shanghai presents the dialogue exhibition “The Image of Memory: Leiko Ikemura and Shen Yuan”.
The exhibition presents a range of significant artworks from two women artists — Leiko Ikemura and Shen Yuan. The exhibition attempts to open a dialogue across cultural and geographical boundaries through their art works, raising questions around memory, immigration and female identity. The exhibition is curated by Guo Xiaohui.
Both of them are non-western artists living in the West. Leiko Ikemura left Japan at the age of 21, to study in Spain, she then lived and worked in Switzerland, and settled in Germany in 1986. Shen Yuan left China in 1990 and moved to Paris. This cross-cultural background has provided them with a unique perspective and has also profoundly influenced their art practice.
Leiko Ikemura's work spans the genres of drawing, painting, sculpture, photography and poetry. At the centre of her work is an exploration of nature, femininity and the cyclical rhythm of life and death. Many of her works feature elements of a mythological narratives, involving the creation of magical universes blending elements of animals, human figures, and plants.
About the artists
Leiko Ikemura (イケムラレイコ) was born in Japan and is now based in Berlin and Cologne, Germany.
She has had a highly acclaimed career, spanning over four decades. Ikemura left Japan in 1972 and studied art in Seville, Spain, before moving to Switzerland in 1979, and then settling in Germany in the 1980ies. The influence of the different cultures she has lived in is apparent in her attitude both to her work and to the world.
Leiko Ikemura's works have been presented in solo and group exhibitions internationally since the early 1980s. In 2023 solo exhibitions were presented at Museum de Fundatie, NL, Museo de Arte Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico and Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin, Germany. Further solo exhibitions were presented at (selection): Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (2022); CAC La Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències Valencia, Spain (2022); Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, UK (2021); Centro de Arte Caja Burgos, Spain (2021); Kunsthalle Rostock, Germany (2020); St. Matthäuskirche, Berlin (2020); Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2019); Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skärhamn, Sweden (2019); The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (2019); Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, USA (2016); Museum of East Asian Art, Cologne (2015); The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Mishima, Japan (2014); Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Germany (2013); Asian Art Museum, Berlin (2012) and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan (2011).
Most recently, Leiko Ikemura has been included in group exhibitions at (selection): Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany (2023); The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan; (2022-23); in 2022 : 9th Beijing Biennale at National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China; The National Art Center, Tokyo; Museum for East Asian Art, Cologne; AMMA Foundation, Mexico City; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Shandong Art Museum, Jinan, China; Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland; Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland; in 2021 : The Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, among others.
Her work is included in the collections of renowned institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein; Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, UK; MOMAT-The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokio, and Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan.
Sources: Press release of Being Art Museum
Being Art Museum / Jinqiao Biyun Art Museum (金桥碧云美术馆)
No. 135, Hongfeng Road, Pudong
Shanghai
China, 201206
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