Yasuko Toyoshima is an artist who questions everything. For over 30 years, she has leveraged personal feelings of alienation to social frameworks and rules that the vast majority of us have simply internalised and accepted as ‘norms’. The raw material with which she works can ultimately be considered as ‘systems’: ranging from tangible objects such as abacus, to concepts including education, economic models and our perception of colour.
As this first major overview of Toyoshima’s career-so-far demonstrates, via nearly 400 works, this uncompromisingly subjective take on the world results in art that is both thought-provoking and, very often, reveals a playful sense of humour. Early pieces entitled 'Open Bank Account' and 'Mini Investment' involve the artist literally opening accounts and buying stocks and shares. A highlight of this show, 'Color Compensation 1' from 2005, meanwhile, saw Toyoshima attempt to construct a colour system that would only work within the confines of the piece itself, via red and green light alternating at one-second intervals within a pitch-black room.
Note: the exhibition is closed from December 28 2023 to January 1 2024.
Text by Darren Gore