古川 あいか Aika Furukawa was born in Aichi, Japan in 1982. She finished her studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts (Department of Fine Art, Oil Painting) in 2008. Between 2012 and 2015, she was a trainee in the programme of overseas study for upcoming artists from the Agency for Cultural Affairs of The Japanese Government and the Pola Art Foundation.

Aika uses transparent linen canvases and often engages with the exhibition space in a multidimensional way. Since 2007 her motif is “folds”. Folds occur naturally next to us at any time from everyday textiles. They are part of our daily routine, which to our inattentive brain often feels tedious. However the folds always have a different shape, they are all the time changing can create an awareness about the impermanence of our life.
She works in Brussels, Tokyo and Leipzig.

 

2021

 VGC Brussels Project Grant, Belgium

2019

 Nomura Foundation Art and culture, Japanese Project Grant, Japan

 Arts Council Tokyo, Japan

2018

  Stadt Leipzig Kulturamt, Germany

2016

  Internationale Sommeratelier, Artist Scholarship, Aschersleben-Germany

2015

  Nomura Foundation Art and culture, Japanese Project Grant, Germany

2014-2015

  Pola Art Foundation, Japanese Artist Grant, Germany

2012-2013

  Agency for Cultural Affairs of The Japanese Government: Programme of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists, Trainee, Germany

2012

  Honour Prize: 31st Sompo Japan Art Foundation, Selection encourages Exhibition

2011-2012

  26th Holbein Scholarship, HOLBEIN Works,Ltd., Japanese Artist Scholarship

2011

  BankART Studio NYK: Artist in Residence Studio program, Yokohama-Japan

  Honour Prize: Tokyo Wonder Wall 2011, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Citizens Culture and Sports

2010-2011

  Leipzig International Art Programme, Leipzig-Germany

2009

  Honour Prize: Tokyo Wonder Wall 2009, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Citizens Culture and Sports  

 

“The practice of Aika Furukawa, who works in Japan and Germany, is based on a methodology developed in Europe. She represents the mountains and valleys of textiles as shadows cast by their folds. At the same time, she is conscious of the humidity that permeates her objects, as some kind of Eastern element trough which symbolism and meaning emerge. In between these conflicting depictions of fabric, Furukawa appears as if she is trying to reclaim the clothed-concealed body both physically and conceptually through her methodology. By showing the body as a suggested, or as an actual existence, hidden or hiding underneath, the clothes are given a lively character through their various functions, such as to wrap, to conceal, etc. As I mentioned earlier, it is related to heavenliness similar to the expression of clouds on the ceiling of a church.

 

It can be said that Furukawa’s formative challenge is a new attempt to connect the Eastern methodology to the classical European painting. It is, at the same time, a way to connect the everyday life and the heavenly world within us.”

 

- Masahiko Haito, Director of Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art -

 

 

“A first glance at Aika Furukawa’s paintings reveals to us the everyday remains of human transformations, shaped from such textiles as clothing, bed sheets or blankets, removed from their surroundings, hovering in space and arranged in seemingly logical patterns. If we look longer at the paintings/drawings, we seem to recognize landscapes: dramatic mountain ranges, raging seas or towering cloud formations, that could tear open at any time, releasing lightning and torrential rain. We become witnesses to overwhelming natural phenomena. Many of Furukawa’s works are unframed - a conscious deviation from a common practice of painters, that serves to separate the artistic space from the viewing space.

 

When looking at her paintings one is outside and inside at the same time. Furukawa’s space is a spiritual, an inner space - not the space of our sensory experiences, but one of contemplation. There is always a sense of being enshrouded, of protection. In the works of Aika Furukawa distance and proximity are both present as potential experiences.”

 

- Maximilian Rauschenbach, Art historian -