Chiharu Shiota gained international fame for her exhibition at the Japanese Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale. Born in 1972, the artist from Osaka first studied painting in Kyoto. Later she went on to complete her art studies in Berlin as a student of Marina Abramović. With her works, mostly huge installations, she creates poetic interventions that are fragile and yet at the same time have a palpable physical presence. Recurrent elements in her art--such as webs made of knotted wool threads, boats, or red color--refer to the significance of human relationships, and present life as a continuous journey and blood as a symbol of life. Her personal experience and inner feelings are at the heart of her work. The fragility of her body and the awareness of her own finite nature are thus reflected in many of her pieces. This book provides a concise overview of Shiota's impressive work. In addition to her current installations, it showcases early works, drawings, and sculptures.
Chiharu Shiota Books
Chiharu Shiota (*1972 in Osaka, Japan) is one of the most sought-after artists in the world, at the latest since the presentation of her installation in the Japan Pavilion at the Biennale in Venice in 2015. Everyday objects, mementos, and objets trouvés characterize the artist's pictorial language and stand for the subject matter in her oeuvre--recollection, homeland, migration, death, and life. The key figures in her expansive installations with wool threads are old suitcases and shoes, keys, pieces of clothing, furniture, and letters, which she enthrallingly integrates into her works and performances. In the present publication, photographs, film stills, drawings, prints, and objects from the artist's archive comprehensively document the stations in Shiota's oeuvre and illustrate her mostly site-specific, temporary installations. The book is published on the occasion of the first retrospective of the Berlin-based artist and concentrates on her creative work of the last twenty years.