IHARA Koro

Profile

Born in Osaka in 1988. Graduated with an M.F.A in Sculpture from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2013.
2017-18 Recipient of POLA Foundation Oversea Research Fellowship (Stay in Italy.)


Recent Exhibitions
"TRASMUTAZIONI" Group exhibition, Galleria d'arte FABER, Rome, 2018
"die-dye-red" Solo exhibition, Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum, Tokyo, 2017
"BankART LIfe 5-Kanko" Group exhibition, BankART Studio NYK, Yokohama, 2017
"Gunma Young Biennale 2017" Group exhibition, The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, 2017
"tracking traces" Solo exhibition, Tennozu Central Tower Art Hall, Tokyo, 2016

Awards
The 20th Taro Okamoto Contemporary Art Award "Okamoto Toshiko Prize" (2017)
Geidai-Art Emerald Prize (2017)
TOKYO WONDER WALL Prize (2016)

About works / performance

I have searched the by-products and traces of living creatures, and multiplied them by traditional sculptural techniques to create some new meanings. To be precise, I have produced a series of works putting together the animals’ excrements into the shape of their originals by coating with Urushi. I’m also working on a series of projects of doing pottery by burning in a kiln the swallow’s nest or earthworm castings made of town soil. These materials seem to be worthless or easily discarded, but they show vividly the proof that living things are alive. In addition, the shape of these art works represents the inevitability and scale of the living creatures. I’d like to create a universal sculpture by combining these vivid materials with the traditional technique and the expensive materials used in the craftwork. Website