Hirofumi Fujiwara’s isolated sculptures are called Utopians, each person actually an amalgamation of features and cultures. Many of these characters, said to be from a parallel world, are presented inside of barriers as they “bear witness.”
“His human sculptures, modelled from clay and plastic, stand, sit or lie in the exhibition space, reposing, transparent walls are surrounding their fragile bodies,” Galerie Burster says of the artist. “Fujiwara’s Utopians bear witness to a romantic longing for the unreachable, with a contemplative view towards the indefinite. Oscillating between the two worlds, Fujiwara’s sculptures bear references from the Japanese as well as the European Western culture. They seem youthful and yet ageless, androgynous and detached from all stereotypes – isolated from this world, yet resting in the very moment, anchored in pure just-being.”
See more on the sculptor’s site.
Geng Xue’s ceramic sculptures, with their traditional coloring and textures, appear as beings evolving and emerging from our shelves. She’s used these creations in multimedia exhibition and even filmmaking, animating them into mythology-inspired narratives. As she creates representations of humanity, Xue seems to be reflecting on our own fragility.
Examining masculinity and power, Scott Scheidly’s paintings re-contextualize real and fictional villains. Elsewhere in Scheidly’s practice, he injects the grotesque into floral motifs, further underscoring the painter’s knack for satire and subverting expectations. The artist’s humor is also evident in his short bio: “At age four I attempted my first art project by devouring a 10 pack of crayons thus turning my diaper into a Jackson Pollock.”
Éric Nado disassembles typewriters and creates provocative guns from their parts, a different take on how the power of words can outweigh manmade weaponry. Elsewhere, he crafts femine figures out of sewing machines, an "homage to feminism in the working class." All stems from his knack for creating "robota" out of salvaged and recycled material.