Tomoko Abe
Primary Medium: Installation
Other media: Ceramic, Mixed media, Sculpture, Printmaking
Alternative space
Email: nytnabe (at) gmail (dot) com
Website: http://www.tomokoabe.com
Artist Statement
In many of my installations, seemingly trivial objects and debris are installed to bring them back to life using the power of clay as a universal and embracing media.
The installations are composed of many, sometimes in hundreds, ceramic pieces of varying sizes and shapes, collectively arranged in configurations that may remind the viewer of stardust shards in the sky, bubbles in flowing water, or abandoned rubbles. Unnoticeable elements of nature, such as wind and soil, as well as other artifacts are used as motifs, aiming to breath in spiritual connections between them.
I am interested in exploring art forms that allow me to spontaneously collaborate with the materials I works with. The working process with the materials is as important for me as the end product. The message in my work is rarely my idea alone – rather I wish to co-exist in harmony with nature, by listening to the voices of the materials.
Other media: Ceramic, Mixed media, Sculpture, Printmaking
Alternative space
Email: nytnabe (at) gmail (dot) com
Website: http://www.tomokoabe.com
Artist Statement
In many of my installations, seemingly trivial objects and debris are installed to bring them back to life using the power of clay as a universal and embracing media.
The installations are composed of many, sometimes in hundreds, ceramic pieces of varying sizes and shapes, collectively arranged in configurations that may remind the viewer of stardust shards in the sky, bubbles in flowing water, or abandoned rubbles. Unnoticeable elements of nature, such as wind and soil, as well as other artifacts are used as motifs, aiming to breath in spiritual connections between them.
I am interested in exploring art forms that allow me to spontaneously collaborate with the materials I works with. The working process with the materials is as important for me as the end product. The message in my work is rarely my idea alone – rather I wish to co-exist in harmony with nature, by listening to the voices of the materials.
Selected Works
|  Solar Tailings - 2010 - Pocelain, Cyanotype print - 20 ft. x 3ft.  Junk Spirit - 2010 - Ceramics and mixed media - 6 ft. x 11 ft.  Rubble Bubble - 2010 - Clay, Porcelain, glaze, glass and Cyanotype print - 6 ft. x 9 ft.  Wind Spirit - 2009 - Porcelain - 26 ft x 10 ft.  Solar Winds - 2010 - Porcelain, Gauge, oxide and Cyanotype print - 3ft.x 9ft.  Silence energy - 2010 - Porcelain, glaze, gauze - 9 ft. x 43 ft.  Twelve moons - 2008 - low fire clay, underglazes, raku glaze, oxides, beach sands - 3 x 3 ft  Black and white fragments - 2008 - Cotten gauze, casting slip - 30 x 21 x 4.5 in (in area)  Black and White Raku - 2009 - Raku clay, Porcelain, glaze - 30 inches x 33 inches  Flow fragments - 2008 - Paper clay, glazes - 12 x 5 x 5 in  Naked raku - 2008 - Porceline, raku glaze - 17 x 7.5 x 3 in  Still cosmo - 2008 - paper clay, oxides, underglazes - 11.5 x 11.5 x 2.5 in  Earth wave - 2008 - low fire clay, oxides, low fire glaze - 13.5 x 11 x 6.5 in  Fragacia - 2008 - Porceline, paper clay, oxides, glaze, resin, cotton crochet - 12 x 13 x 6 in  UpDrip - 2008 - Casting slip, oxides, resin, glaze, cotton crochet - 8 x 22 x 5 in  Black and red raku - 2008 - Paper clay, raku glaze - 9 x 7 x 4.5 in  Topograqphic lighting - 2007 - Low fire clay, oxides, underglaze - 11 x 12 x 4 in  Zebra - 2007 - Paper clay, oxides, glaze - 13 x 5 x 4 in  Storm (clear) - 2009 - Low fire clay, glazes - 16 x 13 in  Storm (gold) - 2009 - Low fire clay, glazes, oxide, mica - 16 x 13 in |
Artist Bio
Education
1987-1989 IB, the United World College of the Atlantic.
1990-1994 BA, First Class Honour in Painting, the Edinburgh College of Art.
1993 ERASMUS scholarship at Escuela de Bellas Artes, Salamanca, Spain.
Exhibitions and achievements
1990 Sankei Calligraphy Exhibition (Tokyo, Japan)
1992 Guardian Exhibition (London, UK)
1993 Untitled Gallery (Edinburgh, UK)
1993 SAAC Exhibition (Edinburgh, UK)
1994 RSA Exhibition (Edinburgh, UK), First Class Honour Prize for distinguished work, Helen. A. Rose Request
1995 Dowa Kasai Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
1995 NICAF (Yokohama, Japan)
1996 Ginza Gallery House (Tokyo, Japan)
1996 Critiques' Award at Contemporary Art Exhibition (Tokyo, Japan)
2006 Art of Peace Auction (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK)
2008 Generation VI (A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY)
2008 Small Works (Mamaroneck Artists' Guild, Mamaroneck, NY)
2008 Sassy Surface Show (Clay Art Center, Port Chester, NY)
2008 One World, One Planet (Woman Made Gallery, Chicago)
2008 Playing with Fire, 12 Approaches to the Ceramic Process
(Paramount Center for the Arts, Peekskill, NY)
2008 The Dining Room, Pottery and Sculpture
(Mamaroneck Artists' Guild Gallery, Mamaroneck, NY)
2009 Art to the Avenue (Greenwich, CT)
2009 Award of Distinction at Small Works (Mamaroneck Artists' Guild, Mamaroneck, NY)
2009 Solo show at Rye Nature Center (Rye, NY)
2009 City Wide Open Studio (New Haven, CT)
2009 Clay Holiday (Clay Art Center, Portchester, NY)
2010 Delicate Raku (Clay Art Center, Portchester, NY)
2010 The Seventh Westchester Biennial (Castle Gallery, New Rochelle, NY)
2010 Einstein, Ephemera & Crank (Casa Frela Gallery, New York, NY)
2010 Solo Show "Debris Trails" (Mooney Center Gallery, New Rochelle, NY)