2024.9.14sat - 10.20 sun

TOYAMAKANAZAWA

ARTISTS

Sotome Haruka

  • EXHIBITION

01/3

[Past work] Femme Fatale, 2023, lacquer, linen and mica powder. Collection of the artist. Photo: Okamura Kichiro.

[On exhibit] Maji, 2023, lacquer and linen. Collection of the artist. Installation view from Lacquer Storm and Stress—Groundbreaking Expressions in Lacquer at Wajima Museum of Urushi Art, Ishikawa, 2023. Photo: Okamura Kichiro.

[On exhibit] Bondage, 2020, lacquer, linen and plastic chain. Collection of the artist. Photo: Ikeda Hiraku.

Sotome largely produces sculptures of lips in red lacquer. The artist draws parallels between lipstick and lacquer, with lipstick expressing beauty and individuality while protecting lips, and lacquer serving to adorn and protect surfaces. Red lacquer was traditionally applied to tableware, furniture and architectural elements as an auspicious color signifying celebratory occasions. Sotome, however, views red as the color of blood and a symbol of life. Glossy red lips are seen as erotic imagery, but in Sotome’s view, lips instead symbolize the vitality that lies at the root of desire. She finds further significance in using the sap, or “blood,” of the lacquer tree as a medium to dually render life’s good and bad qualities.

EXHIBITION

IWASE AREA

I-3, I-7|Aka Bar, Ao Bar

PROFILE

Sotome Haruka

b. 1987 in Tochigi Prefecture. Sotome received an MFA from Tohoku University of Art and Design in 2014. She completed training at the Kanazawa Utatsuyama Crafts Workshop in 2023. Past exhibitions include Lacquer Storm and Stress—Groundbreaking Expressions in Lacquer (Wajima Museum of Urushi Art, Ishikawa, 2023) and Chocolate—That Which Bears the Supreme Name of (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2023). Her works were featured as the key visual in a 2023 commercial for Tokyo Mode Gakuen. Past awards include the Kanazawa Mayor’s Grand Prize at the 78th Kanazawa Craft Exhibition (2022). Sotome’s works are in the permanent collection of the Kanazawa Utatsuyama Crafts Workshop.