NORIKO KAMIKUBO

To Eat a Frying Pan
March 10 - April 9, 2023
Opening Reception: March 11, 4-6pm

KAYOKOYUKI is pleased to announce Noriko Kamikubo's solo exhibition, To Eat a Frying Pan.

Noriko Kamikubo creates three-dimensional works using various materials, including resin and ceramic. Her works are inspired by things that catch her eye in daily life, especially food items such as bread and soup, which are transformed through her senses into "forms" that allow us to see the taste and even the smell of the food. The works invite us to a new experience of looking at them as if we were tasting a dish.

Kamikubo's choice of multiple materials, such as resin and ceramic, plays a role in stimulating the viewer's "seeing" of the works. When different materials are combined, we unconsciously feel some kind of discomfort. It is the same discomfort as when we would eat a sweet curry, salty shortcake, or sour nikujaga. Just as we notice a slight change in the taste of our usual miso soup, the combination of different materials stimulates our sense of sight and makes us aware of a world different from the one we are used to.

The title of this exhibition, "To Eat a Frying Pan," was inspired by the riddle, "Bread is bread but what bread is inedible?”* Of course, you cannot eat a frying pan, however, Kamikubo says, "Even an inedible object such as a frying pan can be eaten = interpreted by looking at it as a form. We eat to survive, in other words, to take in nutrition for living, but that is not the only reason we eat every day. We use our senses of taste and smell to taste food, with additional visual joy. Then perhaps we can eat both the frying pan, which is "inedible bread," and Kamikubo's creations.

*This is one of the most known Japanese riddles, where the answer is a play on words. The literal translation is “Bread is bread but what bread is inedible?” Answer: “A frying pan.” in Japanese, the word for “bread” is “pan”.

Noriko Kamikubo was born in 1996 in Nara, Japan and currently lives and works there. She received her Master of Fine Art in Sculpture at Musashino Art University in 2021. Noriko has presented her work in: Solo show “To Eat a Frying Pan at KAYOKOYUKI (Tokyo, 2023), “MIMOKA EYE” at Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, The MIMOCA Foundation (Kagawa, 2022), “Gunma Youth Biennale 2021” at Gunma Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, (Gunma, 2021), Solo show “Sugar Salt” at the Student Competition "M-no-Tane" Project Exhibition 3rd Phase, MUJIcom Musashino Art University Ichigaya Campus, (Tokyo, 2021), “Sculpture and Dialogue Method VI. -A range of overlapping possibilities-” at Fuchu City Museum of Art Civic Gallery, (Tokyo, 2020), “Denchu Strut - Take a Star -“ at Kodaira City Hirakushi Denchu Sculpture Museum, (Tokyo, 2019). She has also received the Excellence Award from “Musashino Art University Graduation Works Exhibition” in 2021 and in 2019 and was nominated for "Gunma Youth Biennale", Gunma Prefectural Museum of Modern Art in in 2021 and 2019.