Perception

The Verbier gallery reopened for the summer season with a duo show dedicated to Aya Kawato and Teruri Yamawaki. A well established painter and an earlier stage ceramist, both exploring the concept of perception in how art is made and perceived.

Aya Kawato’s work perception engenders with the way viewers’ minds integrate the artwork, stimulated by geometrical patterns affecting perception itself. An exploration of the frontier between perception and reality, vision and cognition. A thematic that Aya continues to deeply explore in her art making process with solid recognition.

Teruri Yamawaki brings along a multicultural background and believes in non-verbal communication as a basis of mankind’s perception; the result of her overseas experiences and related difficulties to communicate with others. Teruri’s works are expressions of a pre-creative visualisation, letting people perceive her emotions and feelings in a universal language: art.

Aya Kawato’s work explores the theme of “Controlled and Uncontrolled”. She defines the uncontrolled as the deviation that will inevitably arise when a work is made manually; even if created using a meticulous process and under the hands of an utmost skilled craftsman. This deviation is the expression of what could not be prevented from happening during the art creation process, even with the strongest desire of control.

The viewer’s perceptions subtly fluctuate depending on the distance and the viewing angle, but also on his own state of mind, the light, and the work’s environment. At first glance, Aya’s works give the impression of having been created digitally, but they are painted manually and although roughly flat, her works give a distinctive sense of depth and a special warmth at geometric grids. Looking closer, the viewer discovers the unevenness in the paint and the traces left by the artist’s brushstrokes.

Teruri Yamawaki expresses her feelings and thoughts through her ceramic works; building a piece from scratch with clay is like chanting sutras for her. Through the mysterious presence of her works, she hopes that the audience will feel at ease. She sees her creation as the birth of a new friend, or even an amulet that would bring peace to the viewer.