Host Gallery: XYZ collective (Tokyo) & 4649 (Tokyo)
Guest Gallery: Kim? (Riga, Latvia)
Participants: Indriķis Ģelzis, Maija Kurševa, ToruOtani,Krišs Salmanis, Shogo Shimzu
Gallery hours: Thu – Sat 12:00 – 18:00 Sun 12:00 – 17:00
Biographies:
Indriķis Ģelzis (b. 1988, Riga) analyzes personal experience, as well as memories and art history, using three-dimensional models for bringing together and abstracting information which seemingly makes up a pattern of data but does not in fact yield itself to comprehension. Ģelzis’ research ends up assuming the form of plane and freestanding objects/figures, welded, bent and cut in the artist’s studio. Recent solo and duo exhibitions: Tatjana Pieters (Ghent, 2021), Castor (London, 2020), Cinnnamon (Rotterdam, 2019), ASHES/ASHES (New York, 2019), King’s Leap (New York, 2018), Belenius with Adja Yunkers, (Stockholm, 2018), SUPRAINFINIT with Viktor Timofeev (Bucharest, 2018).
Maija Kurševa (b. 1981, Lielplatone) works with installation, moving image, graphics and drawings. In 2017, Kurševa founded the not-for-profit gallery Low, and has acted as the gallery’s programme director (2017-2019). She is also the founder and curator of Riga Zine Festival (2016, 2018) as well as co-founder and project manager of the artist collective Popper Publishing (2012-2018). Kurševa has partaken in artist residencies Kai in Tallinn (2020), ISCP in New York (2019) Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris as part of Kim? Residency Award (2019) and Iaspis in Umea (2013). From 2004, she has participated in exhibitions in Latvia and abroad, and notably, was nominated for the Purvītis Prize in 2017 for her work Joviality.
Toru Otani (b. 1988, Kanagawa) is a Japanese artist who approaches to create new images by drawing over ready-made objects. Otani has been involved in group exhibitions Busy Work At Home at Nonaka Hill, Los Angeles (2021), Maoya Kishi & Toru Otani at Kodama Gallery, Tokyo (2018), Mud, Tokyo, and Swimming at Shinjuku Park Hall 1, Tokyo (2017) and Nostalgia Fantasia at Kodama Gallery, Tokyo (2016). He has had solo exhibitions at Nonaka Hill (2022) in Los Angeles, imalbor (2020) and Kodama Gallery (2017, 2015) in Tokyo.
Krišs Salmanis (b. 1977, Riga) uses animation, video, photography, objects, his body, trees etc. in his art. Salmanis has had shows at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre in Riga, Latvia, CAC in Vilnius, Lithuania, Art in General in New York, USA, A4 in Chengdu, China, and elsewhere. He has gained a number of awards, including at the 13th Tallinn Print Triennial in 2004, 19. Videokunst Förderpreis, Bremen, Germany (2010), Purvītis Prize (2017) and Latvian Theatre award (2019). Salmanis’ works are in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art and the Art Museum of Estonia. He has taken part in numerous international artist residencies, including HIAP in Helsinki, Finland (2012), KAIR in Kamiyama, Japan (2015) and ISCP in New York, USA (2022). He represented Latvia at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013).
Shogo Shimizu (b. 1993, Hokkaido). Through a variety of media, mainly colored pencil drawings, he has been attracting attention for his works that express, with a touch of humor, very personal details such as his own mental illness and addiction, and the anxieties and fears of urban life. Selected exhibitions include a group show at No Gallery in New York (2022), a two-person show with Calvin Miceli Nelson at 4649 in Tokyo (2021), Münster Skulptur Projekte, Sagamihara (2018), STAKE HOUSE DOSKOI (2018), Strange Store (2013, 2012).