ROOM 03 RYOSUKE UEHARA / KIGI
Time flows gently here
The creative unit KIGI was established by Ryosuke Uehara and Yoshie Watanabe in 2012.The unit’s activities range from art direction for companies and brands to graphic design, installation direction, product design, and participation in art projects.
The duo explore new approaches to creation with ideas and expressive power unrestricted by genre boundaries.
One of their best-known works is a flower vase named hope forever blossoming that stands up by itself when water is poured into it. The duo have designed over 90 different variations of the vase. KIGI were also awarded a grand prize by the Tokyo Art Directors Club for their product brand KOKOF. Launched with artisans from Shiga Prefecture, KOKOF incorporates modern designs and ideas into traditional craft techniques in the form of ceramic ware, wooden furniture, textile products, and more.
In the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2018, they presented YOIGOMA: The Standing Sake Bar. This was an art performance held in a bar, for which KIGI developed a sake cup that spins like a top and, in accordance with a unique set of rules, served sake made in collaboration with a local sake brewery. The duo also run a gallery and store called Our Favourite Shop. Here they organise exhibitions and events and work to create a “place” for presenting creations.
In 2015, KIGI held an exhibition at the Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Clematis no Oka. This was followed by the major exhibition KIGI WORK & FREE at the Utsunomiya Museum of Art in July 2017, which included design work by Uehara and Watanabe dating back to 1999, along with private works and artworks from 2007 and later.
The work presented in this room is by Ryosuke Uehara, who was born in Hokkaido in 1972 and graduated from the Department of Design at Tama Art University. He was the winner of the 11th Yusaku Kamekura Design Award.
As the concept for this project was “Where good things grow” in English and “Mebuku (sprouting)” in Japanese, Uehara began by considering the way that minor, everyday discoveries bring growth to our lives. This led to the creation of drawings whose abstract lines depict the scenery of Maebashi amidst the calm flow of time.
Accompanied by poems also written by Uehara, the work encourages the viewer to survey the natural setting of Maebashi.