Yukari Nishi, magma
Index #7
19 Aug–17 Sep 2023
Yukari Nishi, magma
Index #7
19 Aug–17 Sep 2023
From August 19 to September 17, 2023, Gallery COMMON is pleased to present Index #7, an exhibition by Yukari Nishi in collaboration with artist unit magma. The exhibition will feature 19 new paintings by the artist, as well as a series of sculptural works created in collaboration with magma. This will mark Nishi’s first large-scale exhibition with the gallery since joining the roster in 2022, as well as magma’s first showing with the gallery.
In her scenes based on collages of primarily Western media from the 70s and 80s, Nishi introduces us to a cast of bizarre characters in what looks like the hallucination of a retro American TV show. Humanoid characters with teddy bear faces and hamburger heads inhabit the distinctly foreign homes in Nishi’s world, where faded floral wallpaper, shag carpets, and wide kitchen countertops serve as an exotic contrast to the memories of tatami flooring, zabutons, and torn shoji screens that make up the core of Japan’s collective nostalgia. It is not the familiar Japanese home, but rather the fantastical “happy American home” of media lore that is the setting in which we see the lives of Nishi’s characters unfold.