HOUSTON, July 24, 2018 — Japanese artist Ayomi Yoshida will make her Texas debut on July 28 in an exhibition she designed specifically for Asia Society Texas Center (ASTC).

The large-scale installation will focus on Yoshida’s investigations of time, life cycles in nature, and sensory memory. It is being assembled over a two-week period by a 40-member team from Japan and the U.S., including students from four universities in Japan as well as local students from Rice University, University of Houston, and the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The exhibition will feature video projections, vinyl applications on glass, hand-carved and painted wall installations, and a scrim stretching across a portion of the Center’s Fayez Sarofim Grand Hall, complemented by intricate silkscreen-printed paper suspensions hung from the vaulted ceiling. The installation will evoke a pool with flowers falling into it from above, and is an indoor corollary to the Center’s Elkins Foundation Water Garden, which had a direct influence on Yoshida’s creation. Inspired by ASTC’s award-winning architecture by acclaimed Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi, the exhibition will extend into the North Gallery and will invite Houstonians to explore the entire first floor of the museum and the Water Garden.

“As a former architecture student, Yoshida has an exceptional understanding of Yoshio Taniguchi’s architectural practice, which uniquely situates her to respond to his design of our facility,” says Bridget Bray, the Center’s Nancy C. Allen Curator and Director of Exhibitions.

As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey approaches, the installation also explores the theme of water as both a source of life and a source of destruction, both in Houston (Hurricanes Harvey and Ike) and in Japan (the recent flooding and the 2011 tsunami).

Yoshida is the granddaughter of renowned painter and woodblock printer Hiroshi Yoshida, widely considered a master of the shin-hanga style. He, along with her grandmother Fujio, father Hodaka, and mother Chizuko are part of a dynastic artistic family reaching back to the 1800’s, making Ayomi Yoshida a rarity: a third-generation female artist in a male-dominated field.

“Yoshida is expanding her family’s legacy by branching out from traditional woodblock printing into large-scale three-dimensional installations that incorporate prints to achieve dramatic transformations of space,” says Bray.

Yoshida’s work has been featured globally, including in exhibitions at the British Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Asian Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Her works are held in the permanent collections of institutions such as the Freer|Sackler, British Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, and the Portland Art Museum.

Fast Facts

• Exhibition dates: Saturday, July 28, 2018 – Sunday, January 13, 2019
• Admission: Free and open to the public
• Hours: Tuesday – Friday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Saturday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Related Programs

• Opening Reception: Thursday, July 26, 6 ­­– 8 p.m. | Free to the public; RSVP requested
• Artist Talk: Saturday, July 28, 2 p.m. | Free for Members, $7 for Nonmembers

Exhibitions at Asia Society Texas Center are presented by Wells Fargo. The Japan Series is presented by Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas). Major support also comes from Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, Nancy C. Allen, and Leslie and Brad Bucher, as well as The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston Endowment, and the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. Generous funding also provided by The Clayton Fund, Texas Commission on the Arts, Wortham Foundation, Inc., The Franci Neely Foundation, Olive Jenney, Nanako and Dale Tingleaf, and Ann Wales. Additional support given by The Japan Foundation. Funding is also provided through contributions from the Friends of Asia Society, a premier group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional visual art to Asia Society Texas Center.