Misako Inaoka: Back Domain September 7, 2012

In revolt against domestication and classification, claw foot ottomans, chotchkies and decoys alike have fused together and run off. Misako Inaoka has frozen them in space and brought them to Johansson Projects in her new show, Back Domain. In her previous zoological gardens, faces gave way to surveillance cameras through a not-so-natural selection. Here, it seems her off-kilter critters have gotten a bit homesick. Technology has been replaced with images of domesticity; where there once was cold metal, now rests cozy damask fabric. Her creatures, taking cues from Inaoka's earlier tumorous toy bestiary, are mounted on walls or hoisted on branches, looking less threatening and more beguiling with their earthy tones, glossy wood, and feathers that morph into twigs. Like Odilon Redon and Louise Bourgeois before her, Inaoka crafts an animal kingdom in which the weirdest possible creature would be an average looking one.