INSTALLATION LA FORÊT D’AMOUR (« The FOREST OF LOVE ») BY RIEKO KOGA
Textile installation by Rieko Koga, created in 2014, with protective vocations, because for Rieko Koga stitching has a magic power.
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RIEKO KOGA
Based in Paris since 2004, Japanese artist Rieko Koga has developed a body of work displaying both touching delicacy and startling complexity. Left unsatisfied after fashion design studies – which she found too rigid and restrictive – in the 1990s, Rieko Koga set out to explore the infinite plastic possibilities offered by the fluidity of thread and fabric. Writing and drawing using embroidery became an immediate and spontaneous means of expression for her. Infused with deep spirituality, her creations are the product of a meditative artistic practice. Stretching the fabric of time and memories, she uses her thoughts, dreams and prayers as an “Ariadne’s thread” to bring them into existence. Her embroidery brilliantly and thoughtfully blends matrilineal tradition and the millenary art of Japanese embroidery, combining the same sashiko stitching patterns that her mother used to make clothes with an eminently spiritual approach conducive to balance and beauty. Resulting from patient composition work and unfailingly repeated gestures, her stitches are akin to a seismogram of her mood. A subtle alchemy of motion and thought carefully intertwined through the magic of thread and needle, her embroidery is a form of lyrical writing, a poetic score couched on fabric. In an act of intense self-revelation, Rieko Koga invites the spectator to step into her personal universe and to discover her prayer garden, the diary of her vows, the maze of her reveries. Eschewing any preliminary sketches, Rieko Koga’s art is as effortless as breathing.
PRATICAL INFORMATIONS
Tuesday, September 14, to Sunday, September 23, 8 am to 7 pm
Free admission
Visit on site by Rieko Koga on September 14