photo: SUEMASA Mareo
Sugar Crown
| Artist | NISHIYAMA Minako |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Material/ Technique | sugar, egg-white |
| Size/ Duration | H10.7 × W14 × D14cm |
| Copyright Notice | © NISHIYAMA Minako |
| Year of acquisition/ donation | 2005（作品購入年月日：2005/03/31） |
| Description | Born in Hyogo, Japan in 1965. Lives and works there. Nishiyama Minako made three-dimensional works using paper pulp in the late of 1980s. Afterwards, Nishiyama received great attention in her works that focus on characteristics of Japanese culture, ‘kawaii’ (cute) and ‘pinku’ (pink). She made artworks under the theme of ‘decoration,’ while at the same time her interest in easily destructible, shortlined materials such as paper and papier-mache produced artworks using sugar and egg white. In recent years she has begun to incorporate a variety of materials as she seeks to create more substantial works while continuing to use a lot of the color pink. She has also begun creating three-dimensional and two-dimensional pieces that focus on the reflection of light, although a move towards spatial/architectural pieces that are applied directly to walls is also discernable. "Sugar Crown" features a crown motif shaped out delicate, fragile sugar. Similar works include those featuring ring and high heel motifs. These are all icons that often feature in girlish culture, especially girls’ manga, while the choice of a material that is guaranteed to loose its shape over time and motifs such as crowns could also be interpreted as a critique of femininity and the structures that have given rise to it. Meanwhile, "Untitled (PW-970508)" and the other three photographs record the collapse of "Sugar Crown" over time. The idea for "The PINKÚ House", which could be described as a typical example of Nishiyama’s early work, came from ‘Rica-chan House,’ a toy targeted at young girls in Japan. Icons such as the curtains with their prominent hearts, roses, ribbons and folds and the Western-style furniture are depicted in strong colors such as red and pink and enlarged to the same size as an actual house and actual furniture. The result cuts across reality and dreams and real and imaginary images, confronting the audience with the reality of the kind of world yearned after by the masses. |
NOTES
This Collection Data page contains the works and materials in the collection of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, as of April 1, 2018.
Artists are listed alphabetically by artist’s surname.
Works and materials by the same artists are listed according to the date of the work in principle.
Works whose dates are unidentified are listed at the end of each item. Some works are not listed according to the date of work due to their relations.
The data of works and materials are listed in order of title, production year, material/technique/form, dimensions, donor’s name, copyright holder and credit for photograph.
Dimensions are given by height (H) x width (W) in centimeters for plane work, and height (H) x width (W) x depth (D) in cm for 3-D work. Diameter (Ø) is used for circular work.
For the name of country or city, the name currently used in English is listed in principle.