Art exhibitions come and go in these islands at such a fervent pace that it’s hard to keep up with the latest and greatest in town. Akihiko Izukura, a renowned textile artist from Kyoto, Japan, has managed to conjure up an ambitious solution to this quagmire by bringing his exhibition to you.
The display, entitled “Life in Colors,” boldly blurs the lines between public and private enterprise, calling into question the ostensible barriers that confine and restrict us in our everyday lives. Izukura uses large-scale textile based pieces of silk and fabric to demonstrate his reverence for the outdoor aesthetic.
His work can be seen draped over the art building at Univesrity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and in front of the Honlulu Academy of Arts, both indoors and out. The exhibit is presented by UHM in conjunction with the Academy Art Center at Linekona.
Izukura flew from Japan to share his work with Hawai’i, and also delivered a lecture on his philosophy about life, art, and the inseparable relationship therein.
During his speech he touched on some of the more significant influences in his work, including the importance of maintaining a compassion for life without compromise and a respect for nature.
He also preaches the importance of “zero-waste,” using every resource to its utmost potential. He wants to hand every subsequent generation to have a more habitable environment than the one we currently have now.
His zen-like mentality manifests itself in his artwork, vivacious and bursting with vitality in the form of delicate hues.
At the end of his lecture, he gave a brief demonstration of his Senshoku-do, which means dyeing and weaving ceremony, which focused primarily on silk reeling.
Izukura comes form a long lineage of weavers and developed his own laboratory dedicated to weaving after graduating from Doshisha University. From that point on, he began to gain notoriety form his work, ultimately earning him the critical and cultural reverence of his peers and critics. He hopes to inspire people through his work to find a path to co-exist with nature in their own lives.