Leiko Ikemura. Before the thunder, after the dark

BUILDING presents Before the thunder, after dark, the first solo show in Italy of the Japanese naturalized Swiss artist Leiko Ikemura, curated by Frank Boehm. Open to the public from 4 September to 23 December 2021, the exhibition offers a broad overview of Ikemura's artistic research, bringing together a selection of 50 works by her created from the 1980s to today. The exhibition project, which is spread over four floors, presents some significant historical productions alongside more recent works. Among these, a glass sculpture, created thanks to the collaboration with some of the most important workers in Venice.

BUILDING presents Before the thunder, after dark, the first solo show in Italy of the Japanese naturalized Swiss artist Leiko Ikemura, curated by Frank Boehm. Open to the public from 4 September to 23 December 2021, the exhibition offers a broad overview of Ikemura's artistic research, bringing together a selection of 50 works by her created from the 1980s to today. The exhibition project, which is spread over four floors, presents some significant historical productions alongside more recent works. Among these, a glass sculpture, created thanks to the collaboration with some of the most important workers in Venice.

Leiko Ikemura's work is characterized by a complex and highly expressive visual language. In her works - initially mainly figurative, then increasingly tending towards the abstract - the artist focuses on the human figure and her position within the cosmos. The female figures, typical of her production, are mostly shown free from any spatial environment, contextualized within ethereal landscapes, more emotional than physical. These figurations are the protagonists of a timeless painting, expression of a personal representation of the contemporary existential condition. Observing them is an intimate experience, which transmits a growing unfulfilled desire for completeness.

Leiko Ikemura's expressive universe ranges from drawing to watercolor, from painting to photography, to sculpture, made of ceramic, terracotta, bronze and, more recently, glass. The individual works have a great autonomy and intensity, which can also be found in the smaller sizes, but with a strong presence. Through the BUILDING rooms, the exhibition develops in thematic groups that trace the development of the artist's visual vocabulary, starting with the large-format charcoal drawings of the 1980s, shown here for the first time, passing through the shades delicate and nuanced of the works of the 90s, up to the intense colors of the most recent canvases.

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