Curatorial Vignette: Demons & Monsters at TAI... Oh My!

SANTA FE, NM – “Demons & Monsters at TAI… Oh My!” is a curatorial vignette in collaboration with TAI Modern that marries together the contemporary pop art paintings of Japanese monsters in their plastic worlds by artist Joel Nakamura with the Zen ink brush paintings of supernatural creatures and yōkai by Barbara Riley. Shown in conjunction between pieces from the gallery’s extensive collection of shapeshifting Japanese bamboo art by Kawashima Shigeo, “Demons & Monsters” will descend on TAI Modern on March 28.
Although formal, scholarly research of yōkai is in its infancy (there isn’t even a fixed definition of what the term means: for our purposes, somewhere between a demon and a monster—the creatures of bedtime and fairytale stories), TAI Modern invites local New Mexican artists Joel Nakamura and Barbara Riley to showcase their interpretation of yōkai culture alongside the whisper-thin abstract bamboo works of Kawashima Shigeo.
Kawashima Shigeo admits that, when he was a young man, he wanted to “Live in a remote place like a mountain hermit.” But it wasn’t until he was twenty-seven years old that bamboo came into his life as an artistic expression. He generally doesn’t weave with it, as is the traditional technique, but allows it to find form through tying knots with rattan to hold the tangles into a form. The result is a feral, light, expressionistic take on contemporary Japanese bamboo sculpture.
Joel Nakamura is a multi-disciplinary artist who works with myths and legends within a blend of folk art and neo-primitive painting techniques. In addition to being an accomplished children’s book writer and illustrator, he has taken commissions from Time Magazine, US News & World Report, and the Los Angeles Times.
Barbara Riley worked as a freelance writer and editor for over half her life but spent time throughout working in a more formal sphere to copy paintings from hundreds of books in her library—from Korean Modernism, classical Chinese landscapes, to Japanese Zenga. This allowed her to find space for expression and originality in the traditional art of sumi-e ink painting.
Bringing painting together with sculptural forms, “Demons & Monsters at TAI… Oh My!” explores the relationship between mythology and technique. It also promises to be a raucous time, containing the traditional Japanese Hyakki Yagyō (night procession of one hundred demons) parading on the walls of the gallery! Join us for the opening on Friday, March 28 from 5 – 7PM at 1601 Paseo de Peralta in Santa Fe.