#006　Thread Between | Nishio Yoshinari

Artist:Yoshinari Nishio

"Revealing Through Clothes Their Hidden Communication"

The human form of expression embedded in our way of dress externalizes who we are. In the many different human societies which we inhabit, in order to frame communication we often first try to judge what the other person is and this becomes important information in the ensuing communication. But of course it is also a danger to prescribe communication to these limits. Nishio takes apart this construct from within and through the changing of ones appearance points towards something that might become possibly become communication, rather than be immediately delineated as such.

Within the framework of Nishio's workshops and projects art is created through the encounter with strangers, in which the role of the artist and the viewer becomes blurred. Nishio undertakes an engagement which may be perceived as beyond the realm of art and thereby questioning its very definition and his own position as an artist. Through an approach which builds a mechanism or intervention, Nishio sets himself apart from the supposed privileged position of the artist and points towards the real possibilities of communication.

In a project which requires the participation of many different people, then there is a necessity to raise motivation, but the enjoyment of the participants in Nishio's projects is unquestionable and clearly reflected in his documentation works. In contrast to the cool unapproachable image of contemporary art, Nishio sets his work at a point where anyone is able to sense the challenges of communication and appreciate the fun of joining with different people.

Nishio's works move from the intimate setting of the family, to cross international borders, realizing clothes exchange projects such as "Self Select" in France and Kenya, as well as further expanding the very form of the work in the "Overall" series, creating monumental patchworks from old clothes, the range and scale of his works symbolically reflecting the richness of communications possibilities. Nishio's self initiated residence program "Nairobi Art Project" is also set to continue regularly, further pushing the possibilities of human interaction and moving beyond our preconceptions of communication.

In this exhibition the photographic documentation of Nishio
's various workshops and projects, including "Familial Uniform" and "Self Select", small scale models of his patchwork "Overall" series, presenting works from the wide range of his artistic engagements. With his unique humour Nishio binds the gap between time, space and people　in a striking and radical form which is set to induce a new form of communication between viewers.


*Profile
Born 1982 in Nara Prefecture
2006 B.F.A. in Intermedia Art, Tokyo University of the Arts
2008 M.F.A. in Intermedia Art, Tokyo University of the Arts
2011 Ph.D. in Intermedia Art, Tokyo University of the Arts

* Selected Solo Exhibitions
2006 Yoshinari Nishio, KCI Gallery, The Kyoto Costume Institute, Kyoto
2007 Self Select", Gallery César Harada, Paris
2007 Yoshinari Nishio's reasons of Clothes, Design Hub Tokyo Midtown, Tokyo
2009 Self Select in Nairobi, RaMoMA, Nairobi
2009 Form of Words Factory, apmg, Tokyo
2010 Report of Overall Projects in Nairobi, AIT Room, Tokyo

*Selected Group Exhibition
2006 Media City Seoul 2006, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul
2007 Robbery of Feelings, BankART Studio NYK、Kanagawa
2008 IDEL FORUM, Café MOSCAU, Berlin
2008 Happiness in Everyday Life, Art Tower Mito, Mito
2009 ESTUAIRE 2009, Saint-Nazaire, France
2009 The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2009, Niigata
2009 From Laboratory to Project, New Museum Weimar, Weimar
2009 Costume in Play- Kim Sooja, Yutaka Sone and Yoshinari Nishio, Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Nagano
2010 Resonance, Suntory Museuma of Art, Tempozan, Osaka
2010 Kitamoto Vitamin 2010, Saitama