Atsuko Yamashita and Reina Mikame, “Paintings”
I visited the joint exhibition by Atsuko Yamashita and Reina Mikame. The venue is TAKU SOMETANI GALLERY.
The project came about because the two artists had attended the same prep school in Nagoya, and their long-standing friendship made this exhibition possible. Collaborations are common in the music world, but joint projects in painting are quite rare. This is a challenging endeavor that crosses the boundaries of each artist’s representing gallery.
For the collaborative works, one of the two artists would begin, and the two then exchanged the pieces back and forth as they worked on them. Some works were completed after just a single exchange, while others traveled between the two many times before reaching completion.
Two versions of the exhibition’s direct-mail flyer (DM) were produced this time.
Each artist had a different preference, so they ended up creating two versions.
The two artists’ styles overlap and interweave, as though a different life were being breathed into each single work.
As a method, joint painting may not easily take root as an established practice, but these collaborative works, into which the energy of two young painters has been poured, were wonderful to see.
