Noriko Kamikubo at KAYOKOYUKI / Tokyo

Noriko Kamikubo

To Eat a Frying Pan

March 10 - April 9 2023

KAYOKOYUKI

2-14-14 Komagome, Toshima-ku, Tokyo  170-0003  Japan

 

Noriko Kamikubo creates three-dimensional works using various materials, including resin and ceramic. Her works are inspired by things that catch her eye in daily life, especially food items such as bread and soup, which are transformed through her senses into "forms" that allow us to see the taste and even the smell of the food. The works invite us to a new experience of looking at them as if we were tasting a dish.

Kamikubo’s choice of multiple materials, such as resin and ceramic, plays a role in stimulating the viewer's "seeing" of the works. When different materials are combined, we unconsciously feel some kind of discomfort. It is the same discomfort as when we would eat a sweet curry, salty shortcake, or sour nikujaga. Just as we notice a slight change in the taste of our usual miso soup, the combination of different materials stimulates our sense of sight and makes us aware of a world different from the one we are used to

The title of this exhibition, "To Eat a Frying Pan," was inspired by the riddle, "Bread is bread but what bread is inedible?”* Of course, you cannot eat a frying pan, however, Kami- kubo says, "Even an inedible object such as a frying pan can be eaten = interpreted by looking at it as a form. We eat to survive, in other words, to take in nutrition for living, but that is not the only reason we eat every day. We use our senses of taste and smell to taste food, with additional visual joy. Then perhaps we can eat both the frying pan, which is "inedible bread," and Kamikubo's creations.

 

*This is one of the most known Japanese riddles, where the answer is a play on words. The literal translation is “Bread is bread but what bread is inedible?” Answer: “A frying pan.” in Japanese, the word for “bread” is “pan”