June 2 – July 14, 2007
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NORIKO
AMBE |
Beginning June 2nd, d.e.n. contemporary art
will proudly present two concurrent solo exhibitions: I Am Falling
So Dance With Me, an exhibition of crocheted materials by Los
Angeles based artist Nicola Vruwink; and, Flat
Globe 2007, featuring sculptural work on paper by Japanese native
Noriko Ambe. The exhibitions will be on view until
July 14, 2007.
On view in the gallery’s main space will be Nicola
Vruwink’s latest body of work, in which she crochets
yarn as well as audio-cassette tape into shimmering wall pieces of
excerpts from pop song lyrics. Confronting the viewer with emotional
connotations, the text pieces are visual proclamations of human existence
implying amusement, disappointment, inspiration, nostalgia, and defiance.
In her cassette tape pieces, Vruwink innovatively uses an outmoded
craft to refashion outmoded technology into something vital and contemporary.
Vruwink’s previous projects often included work made from unassuming
material connected to domestic craft and their items, such as painting
with Kool-Aid or nail polish, constructing an installation made with
marshmallows, and producing a performance-video project that incorporated
a segment from the Martha Stewart television show.
Vruwink is a M.F.A. graduate from the University of Washington, and
relocated to Los Angeles from Seattle in 2004. She is the recipient
of numerous awards and residencies, and in 2003 was selected to create
an installation commemorating the Seattle Art Museum’s 70th
Anniversary.
The second exhibition will include dramatically sculpted landscapes
by Noriko Ambe.
Ambe describes her work as being “about process, time, and the
deliberate act of making.” Her work brings to mind the evolution
of geological stratification, as she creates deeply contoured topographies
by laboriously hand cutting then stacking hundreds of sheets of a
synthetic, smooth, milky-white paper called Yupo. The mystical, miniature
landscapes are contained in drawers of a ready-made file cabinet or
elegantly set in frames as wall pieces, as Ambe explores the depth
and boundaries of the natural versus the man-made.
Born in Saitama, Japan, the artist presently lives and works in Tokyo
and New York, where her work has been presented in several solo exhibitions.
Ambe is a 2007 recipient of the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation
grant, and she has widely participated in group exhibitions, including
international venues in Austria, Poland, Canada, and Italy.
The opening reception for both exhibitions will be
Saturday, June 2 from 5 to 8 pm. June 2nd will coincide
with the 2nd Annual Culver City Art Walk. The gallery is located at
6023 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232. Regular gallery hours
are Tuesday through Saturday from 11 to 5:30. For additional information
or to request visual material, please contact the gallery at (310)559-3023
or info@dencontemporaryart.com.
*Thank you to the Yupo Corporation for their support
in this project.