Konoike Tomoko

As part of Temporal Turn, the Spencer’s major exhibition of contemporary Asian art, Japanese artist Konoike Tomoko will visit Lawrence during October and November 2016 to create new, site-specific artwork. Konoike previously visited the Spencer in December 2015 to conduct a site visit and plan her commissioned piece. Her installations will explore ideas of time, mythology, and speculative inquiry—central themes of Temporal Turn. Konoike’s outdoor sculpture Inter-Traveller, which depicts the lower half of a girl’s torso, will be installed in various locations on and off the KU campus throughout the run of the exhibition. Additionally, Konoike will create a painting on stitched cowhide that will evoke local myth and folklore.

Konoike received a BA in Japanese traditional painting from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (Geidai). Drawing inspiration from manga, Shinto animism, Noh drama, and pop culture, she creates otherworldly artwork that encompasses sculpture, drawing, photography, and animation. Her art has been featured in group and solo exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout Asia and Europe, including recent solo exhibitions like Primordial Violence (2015) at the Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery in Yokohama, Earthshine (2013) at the Wendi Norris Gallery in San Francisco, and Donning Animal Skins and Braided Grass (2011) at the Hyundai Gallery in Seoul.