KYOKO IDETSU

Inhabited by characters with broadly, intentionally simplified traits and postures, with hyper expressive faces that contrast with the hieratic aspect of their bodies, in scenes that are side by side, or are superimposed on the canvas with no chronology or apparent rationale, like vignettes, Kyoko Idetsu’s paintings immediately plunge the spectator into a highly original synthesis of several histories of art.

Using a very narrow thread which is sometimes drawn towards the grotesque, and sometimes caricature, Kyoko Idetsu weaves a muted commentary on the society around her, a highly normative Japanese society, in which the sense of collective duty dominates individual rights. A society in which women obtain only the places they manage to make for themselves, with great abnegation.Recent solo exhibitions include Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art, Niigata (JP), Crèvecœur, Paris (FR), Nonaka-Hill, Los Angeles (US), Bridget Donahue, New York (US), Brulee (Shunsuke Imai Studio), Tokyo (JP), ArtCenterOngoing, Tokyo (JP), LUCKY HAPPY STUDIO, Tokyo (JP).

Selected group exhibitions include Kunstmuseum St.Gallen (CH), Busan Museum of Contemporary Art (KR), Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (NE), Lavender Open Chair, Tokyo (JP), Nonaka- Hill, Los Angeles (US), Akibatamabi 21, Tokyo (JP), TERATOTERA Festival, Tokyo (JP).Her work is in the collection of the Portland Museum of Art (US).