Emerging Artists Series - Koki Tanaka January 12, 2012

Emerging Artists Series
Room Gallery

A Solo Project by Koki Tanaka, In Situ

Curated by Juli Carson, Gallery Director

OPENING RECEPTION JAN. 12 6:00-9:00 P.M.

Koki Tanaka's interdisciplinary art practice -- combining painting, video, photography and sculpture -- captures the ordinary, everyday events or objects in its most poetic transformation. His task of discovery entails carefully documenting what he accidentally encounters -- things we ordinarily overlook. Along the way, Tanaka gives himself over to a place in the legacy of Andre Breton's surrealist encounters, David Hammon's fluxus performances, Bruce Nauman's paradoxical propositions and Douglas Hueblers durational pieces.

Specifically, Tanaka's work derives from an action that he instigates in a given site: Selling old palm fronds as a vendor in a local flee market; Showing scultpures to a friend's dog; Orchestrating a haircut simultaneously performed by a team of hairdressers.

Derived in a post-recession Japan -- and continued in the current U.S. recession -- Tanaka's ongoing project springs from an economy of means and the absurdity of chance. In the end, he provides an unexpected, sublime experience of our quotidian lives. Tanaka's newest project -- produced in situ for Room Gallery -- will be the latest stop in the artist's global journey.

Koki Tanaka was born in Tochigi, Japan, and lives and works in Los Angeles. He has been exhibited internationally in the world's most prestigious museums and Biennials. This fall he is featured in Yokohoma Trienniale, which was inagurated in 2001 as the leading tri-annual international exhibition of contemporary art in Japan. He will also participate in the inaugural Los Angeles Biennale, jointly organized by LA>

Official Website: http://www.arts.uci.edu/event/emerging-artists-series-solo-project-koki-tanaka-situ-jan-12-feb-11