|
|
|
|
|
|
Curator's Statement Born in Tokyo, Misaki Kawai has a collector's mentality that manifests itself in the miniature. This combination informs her work. Her pieces begin with rummaging, collecting, picking, finding, sourcing, and this penchant is the driving force that rivals that of Fred Sandford, in both its prolific nature and period aesthetics (period being the '70s).The uniquely interesting materials that she obfuscates from the junkyard are transformed into Robinson Crusoe miniature worlds of tree-houses, airplanes "in the friendly skies", Carnival Cruises, and Club Med waves. And these dioramas are peopled by R2D2, Kawai herself in portraiture, as well as the local pilots, surfers, stewardesses, passengers in their typical pedestrian roles on, or in, any of the planes, boats, houses, all in miniature. And this realization is complete with miniature airsickness bags and other pocket airline goodies visible in the Untitled (Large Plane). This Romper-Room-in-pastiche cultural obsession certainly has its roots in the love of the miniature, and can't help but recall the miniatures at Chicago Art Institute, stored benevolently by Mrs James Ward Thorne in the basement, which realistically chronicle French, English, and American furniture and living styles from the eithteenth-twentieth centuries. Kawai took the cue and records the twenty-first century in her own inimitable way. Devon Dikeou |