Miho Dohi at Nonaka-Hill

Artist: Miho Dohi

Venue: Nonaka-Hill, Los Angeles, US

Date: April 13 – May 25, 2019

Photography: images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Nonaka-Hill, Los Angeles

Miho Dohi manipulates familiar basic materials, including fabric, yarn, papier-mâché, and wood, along with metals such as brass, copper and wire, to form new components to be assembled into sculpture. Dohi connects these diverse elements – painted, carved or twisted – while constantly changing direction of her new objects’ center of gravity in a sort of rotational creation. She explains:

Whenever I spot pieces of wood or metal that grab my interest, I try to put them together.

At one point, these objects become so heavy that they inevitably tumble over. They never tumble evenly, and just when it seems to become clear what is inside and what is outside, they turn completely upside down, and all of a sudden, an object appears quite naturally out of that chaos. Once an object has completely collapsed, something that hadn’t existed in me becomes something that is there now. – Miho Dohi, 2018

Exhibited in gallery’s large space, Dohi’s sculptures (titled buttai – Japanese for “object”) are cerebral in nature and occupy an unspecified space, inviting diverse interpretation as to their ideal state of rest. Hanging from the ceiling and walls and gathered on a single large table — a level playing field –, the sculptures retain legible evidence of the tactile explorations which inform Dohi’s decision process; thumb impressions onto thin sheet metal, hand pressure exerted into tight crimps and coils, tight winding of wire, and fraying of weaves. The resulting sculptures, composed of high-contrast materials, verge on the anthropomorphic, but remain abstract sculptures in the round.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Miho Dohi was born in 1974 Nara-prefecture, Japan, and currently lives and works in Kanagawa. Her artistic practice was developed after completion of postgraduate studies at Tokyo Zokei University in 2002. Dohi has shown extensively in and outside of Japan, most recently with solo exhibitions at Lulu (Mexico City, 2017), Shane Campbell Gallery (Chicago, 2017), and HAGIWARA PROJECTS (Tokyo, 2016). This is her first gallery show on the West Coast.