‘Shape Keeps Changing’ Information

By drawing away from the human time frame and conception of most events that we assume to be unchanging, we are reminded that they are also in a state of change.
The organic forms that appear in Kong Dara’s work evoke images of change and growth in life, but at the same time can be seen as an undifferentiated state that is not confined to an existing framework, or as indicating a third option.Yumi Kuroki works with citrus farmers in Tanabe City to create ceramic pieces by making glazes from the ashes of tangerine trees and waste materials. Naoko Kineimura, who grew up in the area and continues to be based in Tanabe, researches and creates artworks in the Domeki Gorge, which she visited as a child and where Kumagusu also frequented to observe and collect.

Artists：Kong Dara（Phnom Penh）、KUROKI Yumi（Japan）、KINEMURA Naoko（Japan）

【Venue】

Breakfast gallery

Private gallery in Mojike House run by Tanabe-based artist Kinemura Naoko. Exhibitions by local artists and painting classes for children are held here. 3-minute walk from the Minakata Kumagusu Archives.

Address：〒646-0035 54-2 Nakayashiki-machi Tanabe City Wakayama, Japan
Open：11:00- 17:00
Closing Day: Open everyday
Contact: info@kinan-art.jp

【Artist】

Kong Dara　
Kong Dara (b. 1990, Prey Veng province) studied art at Sa Sa Art Projects. He worked as a curator at the Villa Gallery. He was also previously a Residency Coordinator at Sa Sa Art Projects from 2017 until May 2023. Dara works across media including drawing, sculpture, and installation, often using pen and colored pencil on paper and clay. His artwork investigates his personal experience, memory, and emotions, and often reflects on social change and LGBT+ communities. His work was featured in a solo exhibition, Open Mind, at Strange Fruit, in Phnom Penh (2015). His work has appeared in many group exhibitions at Cambodian and international venues including Ku Bar, Bangkok; Nhà Sàn Collective, Hanoi; SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh; The Mansion, Phnom Penh; Cloud, Phnom Penh; Sangker Art Space & Gallery, Battambang; Carol Shen Gallery, New York; and Sa Sa Art Projects, Phnom Penh. He has undertaken several residencies in Cambodia and internationally, including at MeetFactory, Prague, Czech Republic, Open Contemporary Art Center, Taipei; San Art Laboratory, Ho Chi Minh City; Tentacles Art Space, Bangkok; Sangker Art Space & Gallery, Battambang; and Sa Sa Art Projects, Phnom Penh. He has been invited for three months as an advisor to Multidisciplinary Art (MDA), Faculty of Fine Arts Chiang Mai, University, 2019 – 2020. Dara was a recipient of the Alternative Art School Fellowship (2021). 

KUROKI Yumi
Born in Fukuoka, Japan in 1991. Ceramic artist.Under the theme of “living only creatures,” Ipursuing figurative expression through glazes that make the most of the firing in the kiln.My study of ancient Orient faience, which has the characteristics of both glaze and clay, has led me to use a unique production technique using wire and glaze in my work.I am drawn to the texture of bubbles, with their conflicting meanings of beauty and ugliness, proliferation and disappearance. The bubbly glaze material, the technique, and my own emotions interact to create shapes and colors, and the firing results in organic forms that resemble living things.Major exhibitions include a solo exhibition “Yumi Kuroki #1” (Fukuoka/Japan) in 2022, and participation in the Seto International Ceramic and Glass Art Exchange Program Residency (Aichi/Japan) in 2022.

KINEMURA Naoko　
Born in 1975 in Tanabe City, Wakayama Prefecture. Graduated from Musashino Art University, Department of Oil Painting. Solide; invited to participate in the “Mojike Exhibition” in Ueno, Tokyo (and annually thereafter); VOLANT Exhibition in Ginza, Tokyo (and annually thereafter); onjaku-group Exhibition in Ginza, Tokyo (and annually thereafter); Solo Exhibition in Ginza, Tokyo; Solo Exhibition at Gallery Moku in Tanabe; selected as a postcard for the Solide City Tourism Association; Serials 2007 All Nippon Airways “Tsubasa no Okoku” in-flight magazine, Five Windows / Ginza, Gallery Seikou-dou, 2008 The Way I See Things Exhibition / Aichi, Japan: House of Nagakute culture, Ekaki-no Tabi – Air Journey Exhibition, Ginza, Tanabe, Mojike Exhibition Returns Planning and Exhibition / Tanabe City, 永青文庫 Serialized in Quarterly Magazine, Tokyo, Mejiro, 2009 Travel to France, Returned to Japan in 2010, exhibited in 2012 at Thinking of Spring vol.1 (and every year thereafter until 2016), organized Art Tanabe 2012, solo exhibition at Gallery Azuma, Ginza, Organized Art Tanabe 2013, organized Kinokuni Trainart 2014 (and thereafter until 2019), Thinking of Spring in 2019 exhibited at vol.9. http://trainart.jp/2021/