Shinobu Akimoto: Recent Works

“In today’s culture, where the notion and practice of ‘lifestyle’ as an individual’s aesthetic expression has become so widespread, and the services or technologies to ‘create’ things so accessible, the concepts of the artistic and the creative are rendered seemingly more democratic than ever. I therefore perceive my art practice as partly a ‘surrender’ to and partly a critical examination of the democratization of art (or being artistic), within which exists as sense of self-threat to the artist’s traditional identity.”
– Shinobu Akimoto

This exhibition surverys the projects of Shinobu Akimoto, a conceptual artists who divides her time between Toronto and Tokyo. In this exhibition, photographs, prints, a video projection, mixed media installations, and displays of objects, such as handmade replicas of mass-produced furniture and ceramics, are drawn from a number of the artist’s series, such as the Better Living and the Photo-Litho projects. Akimoto’s work primarily examines the role of the artist in society, and the idea of identity as defined by certain lifestyle and aesthetic choices. Other issues evoked include consumerist culture and the distinctions between the public and private spheres.