SOM GALLERY  is delighted to announce "Momoyo" a solo exhibition by Aya Kurashiki at Bakuroyokoyama.

Aya Kurashiki was born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1993, completed the oil painting major, Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts in 2020 and currently based in Tokyo and Kyoto.
Major solo exhibitions includes "(Was)one of your hair" (haku kyoto, Kyoto, 2023), "Rotting Flesh, Tracing the Skull Beneath" (Ginza Tsutaya Bookstore Art Wall Gallery, Tokyo, 2023), "Shallow – Return to Nature in the Real World" (Wada Garou, Tokyo, 2022) . Major group exhibitions includes:
"Idemitsu Art Award (formerly Shell Award) Artist Selection" (The National Art Center, Tokyo, 2022).

Kurashiki has consistently reflected on the distance between oneself and others within the absolute solitude of human existence, which is severed by the categorization of the materiality of the body. She addresses themes such as alterity of gender, death, and the body, communal existence associated with them, and the transformative act of care, using religious systems as motifs for her work. Mainly focusing on flat works using transfer techniques, she also handles and expresses through multiple media such as installations and performances. While addressing universal themes inherent in human history, it is assumed that the author, Kurashiki herself, is a stakeholder in these themes.

In this exhibition, based on Kurashiki's exhibitions this year, she will present works with the theme of the subjective gaze of human beings, centered around the Ono no Komachi in Eastern tales.

'Nine stages of decay' not only discusses the impurity of the body but also expresses the view of impermanence. The subject of contemplation is male, and the depicted corpse is female, making it a pornographic painting that exhibits a one-sided gaze. In medieval times, the legend of Ono no Komachi was handed down in connection with 'Nine stages of decay.' Ono no Komachi, who boasted unparalleled beauty, was brought to ruin, arrived at a temple in Kyoto, and became a lonely skull exposed to the elements. A woman who has a lot of good looks or sexual attraction in male society may be portrayed as a guilty woman, ignoring her individual personality. Religion exists for the preservation of the community, and impurity should not be included for systematic order. Among them, matters related to physical pleasure, such as food and sex, have been even more taboo. The difference between decay and fermentation, a structural classification of cooking, lies in whether organic matter that has changed due to microorganisms is harmful to humans. In other words, it is a subjective gaze.
(Aya Kurashiki)

In this exhibition, Kurashiki will present approximately 15 new flat works focused on Ono no Komachi.
For the opening of this exhibition, an opening reception will be held on December 8 (Friday) from 19:00 to 21:00.

We look forward to seeing you.