MEDIA KIT - Queensland Art Gallery - Queensland Government

YAO JUI-CHUNG
b.1969, Taipei, Taiwan
Lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan
Yao Jui-chung’s practice explores the complex construction of Taiwanese culture, including its entanglement with Cold
War ideology during the martial law period of 1948–87, the country’s successful embracing of capitalism and the
concurrent effects of multinationalism. APT6 will feature a major group of Yao’s evocative black-and-white
photographs of destroyed, abandoned and weathered buildings, sculptures of religious idols, and military structures
from Taiwanese islands. These works form part of an ongoing project that considers the idea of an ‘aesthetics of ruin’
that marks the rise and fall of power over time and, as the artist puts it, probes ‘the absurdity of the historical destiny of
humanity’.
Exhibitions (solo): Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, 2006. Exhibitions (group): ‘Spectacle: To Each His Own’,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan, 2009; Yokohama Triennale, Japan, 2005; Taiwanese Pavilion, 47th
Biennale of Venice, Italy, 1997. www.yaojuichung.com
YNG
Yoshitomo Nara
b.1959 Hirosaki, Japan
Lives and works in Toshigi, Japan
graf media gm
est.1993 Osaka, Japan
Yoshitomo Nara, one of Japan’s best known contemporary artists, regularly collaborates, under the acronym YNG,
with Osaka-based architectural firm graf to construct playful and whimsical interactive environments, extending Nara’s
fascination with the experience of childhood. The spaces YNG create range from intimate nooks and hideaway huts to
miniature villages, built in response to the environment, materials and architecture of the sites where the works are
made. As with many of YNG’s works, the installation commissioned for APT6 will use reclaimed timbers and found
materials to form the structure, while the interior spaces will be filled with Nara’s iconic drawings and objects. An
encounter with YNG’s world inspires a sense of wonder and discovery and explores how we respond to our
surroundings.
Yoshitomo Nara is internationally renowned for his ‘super-flat’ drawings, paintings and sculptures of mischievous
children and animals. Strongly influenced by punk music, anime, manga and Marvel comics, Nara’s work is also
inspired by his own childhood memories and experiences. His iconic, cartoon-like characters channel experiences of
anxiety and fear, undercutting idealised notions of childhood innocence. While considered a cult figure in his native
Japan, his works transcend national and cultural boundaries and are widely integrated into Western popular culture.
Graf is a creative design group established in Osaka in 1993 by Shigeki Hattori, Hiroto Aranishi, Kenji Tokyura, Hideki
Toyoshima, Takashi Matsui and Yuji Nozawa. Their interdisciplinary studio practice ranges across architecture,
interiors, fashion and furniture design, and investigates the crossovers between art and craft, and design and
architecture. Their arts and cultural branch, graf media gm, run a gallery space, a music label and a publishing house.
Collaboration is intrinsic to all facets of their work, and since 2003 they have been working with Yoshitomo Nara to
create a range of site-specific installations in gallery settings.
Exhibitions (YNG, solo): BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK, 2008; Museum of Contemporary Art,
Den Haag, The Netherlands, 2007; Contemporary Art Centre, Malaga, Spain, 2007; Marianne Boesky Gallery, New
York, USA, 2005. Exhibitions (YNG, group): ‘KITA!!: Japanese Artists Meet Indonesia’, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta,
Indonesia, 2008; Yokohama Triennale, Japan, 2005.