Ikemura objects to this arbitrary form of representation which, in her opinion, overly emphasises the alluring aspect of the feminine appearance. This characterization of female embodiment, has been the defining aspect of her work. She has fearlessly decided to reject the social limitations which have been largely adopted to stereotype women in our modern societies.
« My motivation was much stronger than just making a nice painting. But through these difficulties I learned a lot about myself, and ultimately, my first medium will always be life itself. »
Leiko Ikemura
Born in Japan in 1951, Ikemura studied art in Osaka until 1970, before relocating to Spain then in Zurich in the 1980s. Her paintings encapsulate the ethereal quality of imaginary sceneries, combined
Read More Ikemura objects to this arbitrary form of representation which, in her opinion, overly emphasises the alluring aspect of the feminine appearance. This characterization of female embodiment, has been the defining aspect of her work. She has fearlessly decided to reject the social limitations which have been largely adopted to stereotype women in our modern societies.
« My motivation was much stronger than just making a nice painting. But through these difficulties I learned a lot about myself, and ultimately, my first medium will always be life itself. »
Leiko Ikemura
Born in Japan in 1951, Ikemura studied art in Osaka until 1970, before relocating to Spain then in Zurich in the 1980s. Her paintings encapsulate the ethereal quality of imaginary sceneries, combined with a sense of imminent fracture. The observer is reduced to accept their own sense of unease about the unpredictability of the paintings's expressiveness. Ikemura's mature work makes use of the full range of possibilities which are available to her, through sculpture, photography as well as painting. She bravely confronts her own compulsions to articulate the correlation which she believes to exist, between her paintings illusive landscapes and our fragmented conceptions of feminine idealization. (
Artist website)
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