Masanobu ISHII observes that ‘water’ and ‘respite’ always underlie in YOKOMIZO’s installation works. Born in 1968, Miyuki YOKOMIZO has been familiar with mass produced synthetic materials such as plastic and acrylic resin through toys and daily products. Those materials are used in her installations throughout her artistic career by this point.
Miyuki YOKOMIZO presented her debut installation, ‘BATH ROOM,’ in 1995. She had a bathtub made to her body size, and placed it in a space of which walls held the soaps and plastic soaps that she made. Her 1998 installation, ‘Please Wash Away,’ hang ten thousand plastic soaps in a plastic case from the ceiling. Plastic soaps of various colours that look like sweet candies realised a soothing space with natural light. On the other hand, by manufacturing plastic soaps, the artist experienced the harmful effect of mass production of the synthetic material.
In another 1998 installation, ‘Rain,’ presented a scene of gem like dripping rain, with polyurethane rubber and plastic beads. ‘Green,’ her 1999 installation involved actual water in acrylic pipes that held green acrylic bars in it. In those works, the author observes the ambivalent atmosphere caused by tensions between ‘reality’ and ‘fiction,’ as well as ‘nature’ and ‘artificiality.’ ISHII closes his essay by pointing out the fugitive quality of YOKOMIZO’s works; the soothing but fugitive moment of respite that we spend in her space, a step out of which brings us back to restless daily life. Another fugitive aspect is that the artist creates the scenes that she wants to see, knowing they will disappear when exhibitions close.
Images of the works and biography are available.