Nao Matsumoto
"Wonder Beast"

Wonder Beast begins with an expanse of wallpaper leading to an installation, which invites the viewer into the immersive experience of Nao Matsumoto’s quasi-fiction. Matsumoto has been expanding her two dimensional domain through charcoal and pigment drawings on silk fabric and has made a wallpaper installation drawn with repetitive patterns. Highlighting episodes from a wide range of literature such as ancient mythologies, folklores, and fairy tales interwoven with morals and satire - to contemporary novels by writers such as J. D. Salinger, the artist takes a figurative approach to drawing. With minute detail, Matsumoto lays visualized excerpts from her imagination side by side, and considers the world of fiction a mirror reflection of historical timelines. A continuous trajectory of imagery projects an inner psyche, and encases the exhibition space with an internal “skin.”

The exhibition consists of several clue objects: A clown costume is suspended as a symbolic gesture to traverse the boundary between the conscious and subconscious; while a wooden chair used by 19th century author and playwright, Oscar Wilde is displayed. Also included is Matsumoto’s new body of ceramic work, produced in collaboration with Asahi-yaki master, Yusuke Matsubayashi. These eclectic objects and motifs are intentionally drawn together by the artist’s selection, and “placed in a precariously balanced tension by invisible strings of connections.” This multilayered object space is carefully intended to trigger recognition and resonate with the memory of each visitor through a web of association.

Nao Matsumoto (b. 1975, Hyogo, Japan) received MFA in Visual Design from the Graduate School, Kyoto City University of Arts (2000). Her major exhibitions include Spiral at SCAI X SCAI, Tokyo; SENJIRU-infusion at Galerie Kashya Hildebrand, Zurich, 2008; MOT Annual 2010: Neo-Ornamentalism from Japanese Contemporary Art at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, HANA: A Visual Adventure Merging Fiction and Reality at Koyama Municipal Kurumaya Museum, Tochigi, 2010; Crossing the River: Kira Kira Hikaru curated by Yuko Hasegawa, at Kawagoe Kurazukuri Museum, Saitama; Kanata-no Uta at Art Space Rainbow, Kyoto, 2013; and many others. In May 2015, Matsumoto will participate in the Artist Collaboration at NEMIKA fashion stores (Hiroo and Tamagawa). Her forthcoming solo exhibition will be at Utsunomiya Fairy Museum in July 2015.