Keiko SATÔ
(Japan 1960– )
- Title
- Vol. 1 - Prosperity in spring at 'Dream Land'
- Alternative title:
- OYKOT Meisho e-tsukushi: sono-ichi - Yumeno-shima haru no nigiwai
- Place of origin
-
Japan
- Period
- Heisei period 1989 - → Japan
- Year
- 1991
- Media category
- Materials used
- etching and aquatint
- Edition
- 3/20
- Dimensions
-
44.0 x 102.0cm image; 58.0 x 109.0cm sheet
- Signature & date
- Signed l.r., pencil "Keiko Sâteau". Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of the artist 1993
- Accession number
- 457.1993
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
Obviously influenced by the surreal, the comic, the contradictory and the nonsensical, as well as by European modernist and fairy-tale graphic traditions, Sato creates meticulously detailed fantasy realms. Born in Gunma Prefecture and educated at Musashino Art University, Sato now resides in Tokyo which is the inspiration for her images. She wants to express the contemporary Tokyo she lives in - the 'Dream Land' is an island made of garbage thrown out by Tokyo citizens.
She has modelled her format on the polychrome triptychs of the traditional 'ukiyo-e' school of the late Edo-early Meiji periods (eighteenth-nineteenth centuries). Sato is translating into modern relevance the topical journalistic narrative of such triptychs as well as their playfulness and wit. Even her title mimics the jokiness and allusiveness of contemporary 'ukiyo-e' prints which in their turn used Japan's classical past as a vehicle for their humour.
The architecture of Oykot is as fantastic as some of the escapist architecture of coffee shops and pubs around Tokyo. Recalling Western artists as diverse as Escher, Goya and Brueghel, the images are a divertingly eclectic mix: a people-eating machine, a dragon wearing a walkman, fairy-tale individuals busy with their business as the sun sets on the empire. This is a sardonic assessment of urban life in Japan.
Jackie Menzies, Contemporary Japanese Prints: The Urban Bonsai, 1992, pg. 88.
- Bibliography (1)
-
Jackie Menzies (Australia) (Author), Contemporary Japanese Prints : The Urban Bonsai, Sydney, 1992, 84 (colour illus.), 88. cat. no. 52
- Exhibition history (11)
-
The Urban Bonsai, Queensland Art Gallery, 04 Mar 1992–04 May 1992.
The Urban Bonsai, National Art Gallery, Wellington, 20 Jun 1992–09 Aug 1992.
The Urban Bonsai, Christchurch Art Gallery, 12 Sep 1992–29 Oct 1992.
The Urban Bonsai, Manawatu Art Gallery, 13 Nov 1992–10 Jan 1993.
The Urban Bonsai, The George Adams Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, 18 Mar 1993–25 Apr 1993.
The Urban Bonsai, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 08 May 1993–01 Aug 1993.
The Urban Bonsai, Lewers Bequest and Penrith Regional Art Gallery, 11 Mar 1994–24 Apr 1994.
The Urban Bonsai, The Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, 19 May 1994–19 Jun 1994.
The Urban Bonsai, Campbelltown Arts Centre, 15 Jul 1994–21 Aug 1994.
The Urban Bonsai, Moree Plains Gallery, 11 Nov 1994–24 Dec 1994.
The Urban Bonsai, Tweed River Regional Art Gallery, 01 Feb 1995–05 Mar 1995.
