Leiko Ikemura: As Long as I’m WalkingSainsbury Art Center, Norwich, UK
Past gallery exhibitions exhibition
Overview
Installation view, Leiko Ikemura: Usagi in Wonderland, Sainsbury Art Center, Norwich, England, 2021
Japanese-Swiss artist, Leiko Ikemura, presents her first UK exhibition. "Usagi in Wonderland" showcases a retrospective collection of 50 works spanning three decades of Ikemura’s career, from early paintings, drawings and sculptures through to her most recent never-seen-before cast glass figures (2020).
The exhibition explores the theme of nature and the connectivity of all forms of life, whether that be humans, animals, plants or minerals. There is both fragility and innocence in Ikemura’s empathetic portrayal of global issues, such as climate and evolutionary change. Her art appeals to our imagination with its childlike purity.
Another highlight of the exhibition are Ikemura’s spirit-like ‘Girl’ figures, with ceramic and bronze figures featured alongside enigmatic paintings and drawings.
Usagi, meaning ‘rabbit’ in Japanese, is a recurrent mystical motif in Ikemura’s work, representing rebirth, fertility and renewal. Her bronze sculpture, Usagi Kannon (Rabbit Bodhisattva of Mercy), will stand in the Sculpture Park from 22 November, providing a place of refuge to visitors wishing to shelter beneath its generous skirt.
Installation Views
Installation view, Leiko Ikemura: Usagi in Wonderland, Sainsbury Art Center, Norwich, England, 2021
