Solaya Nagai
I went to “A Big Whisper,” Solaya Nagai’s first solo exhibition in Tokyo. The venue is “HARMAS GALLERY,” about a 5-minute walk from Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station. It’s a lovely gallery run by a handsome-and-beautiful married couple.
According to what the gallery’s owner told me, Solaya Nagai’s works are created from the idea of shifting the way we see everyday objects just slightly. In particular, she focuses on boundaries and outlines, and indeed her works do contain such elements, which I found extremely interesting. She is a young artist whose work was bought by Yoshitomo Nara and has been shown at the Aomori Museum of Art.
Her especially popular pieces are a series in which Barbie dolls are wrapped in transparent acrylic. They were on show this time as well, giving off a distinctive aura.
A Big Whisper
The works centered on three-dimensional pieces, but the drawings were also consistent in theme and fascinating.
My favorite piece is the swallow work. It’s resin coated with acrylic. The texture is smooth and glossy, of such high quality that you can’t help but want to touch it.
This rabbit, too, is wrapped in an acrylic shell.
The popular Barbie doll. From inside the acrylic shell, she pushes both hands out of the shell and presses them together like a statue of the Virgin Mary.
There were many works in which acrylic resin is poured onto organic matter as if pressure-bonding it. There was also a piece coating firewood.
A work using plastic products meant for play. It’s those things you throw a ball back and forth with at the park.
The largest drawing depicts swallows flying in formation. For some reason they fly while wearing shells.
A small drawing made with acrylic paint on a wooden canvas. The Bigfoot was quite nice, but unfortunately it was already sold (18,000 yen, excl. tax).
In Summary
I also looked through her past catalogs of works, and her viewpoint is wildly out there — a truly fascinating artist. The gallery pieces are great, of course, but the catalogs of her older works are a must-see.
Also, judging from the name I assumed the artist was male, but I was startled to hear she is a woman, currently 26 years old! A very intriguing artist, and I’m greatly looking forward to what comes next.
The work I found myself wanting is the smallest swallow sculpture. I was drawn to its sense of speed and dynamism, as if it would fly off endlessly, and to the luster of the acrylic.
I hope she keeps breaking out of her shell and skillfully shatters our thinking, bound as it is by preconceptions.
