art

Toshiko Okanoue: Drop of Dreams

Photocollage rising…witness Jonah Freeman’s oversized, intricately cut wonders at Reed during Reed Arts Week, Josh Pavlacky’s contained, manipulated/layered landscapes at Igloo, and Eva Lake’s upcoming show at Augen. We haven’t seen this much photocollage since Reed College’s Cooley Gallery hosted a Jess retrospective in 2008. Opening today at Charles A. Hartman Fine Art (134 NW 8th Avenue) is Drop of Dreams, a show of original surrealist photolithographic collages from the early 1950s by the Japanese artist, Toshiko Okanoue.

From the gallery:

“Okanoue’s collages, created when she was in her mid-20s in post-war Japan, were constructed largely from American picture magazines such as Life and Vogue. Mining these rich visual sources of American popular culture, Okanoue’s beautiful surrealist imagery expresses the dreams of a young female artist in Japan standing at the crossroads of events and movements of enormous historic significance.

“Her work was widely shown and published at the time, and since being rediscovered in the late 1990s, Okanoue’s collages have been exhibited and collected widely by major museums in both Japan and the United States. There are very few examples left in private hands, this exhibition presents some excellent pieces that have until recently been retained by the artist.”

There will be an opening reception on First Thursday, April 1, 5:30—8:30 PM.

POSTED: March 17th, 2010 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: art | TAGS: charles a. hartman fine art, toshiko oaknoue | No Comments »

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