Red Dot Project by Kaori Takamura
Kaori Takamura is participating in a group exhibition that opens this Saturday, April 23, at the Tempe Center for the Arts. The exhibition is titled Twenty Questions. It features artists working in a variety of media and themes, playing with the popular game Twenty Questions. You will see the work of 12 Arizona artists including Christy Puetz, Joe Willie Smith, Denise Yaghmourian, Takamura and 8 others.
Each artist created a site-specific installation or environment for the artwork placed in this exhibition. The TCA worked with artists, creating storylines, questions and conversation topics for audiences. Several types of interactive games are being made available including a 20 Questions scavenger hunt for adults, coloring pages for children, an SRP gaming lounge and social media options: Twitter, Facebook and online blogs.
Takamura’s plans took a change mid stream and things became much more personal. She was born in Tokyo, Japan (currently resides in Carefree, AZ).
Kaori had this to say,
I am going to show one large painting that consists of 20 red dots for the group exhibition. The title is 20 Dots/Pray for Japan. The image is not available at this moment. I am still working on it!
I was invited by Michelle Dock (curator) to participate in this show, about 6 months ago. My original proposal was a more general painting with 20 colorful dots with stitching, kind of hinting a Zen spiritual way. Then after the disaster happened [earthquake and tsunami], I changed my mind and decided to make all red dots with Japanese images. Michelle accepted my change as well as my donation activities.
For the donation activity, I will sell small paintings (7.5″ X 7.5″) for $40. I will have 20 to 30 paintings. They will consist of one red dot in a white square (image above). I call this donation activity Red Dot Project* . I am hoping to do the same thing at other locations, again and again, in the next couple months. Hopefully I can get other artists involved.
And she also really hopes to get …you… involved. *The Red Dot Project includes 20-30 small (7.5″ X 7.5″) works on canvas, each priced at $40.00. They will be be sold only at the opening. 100% of the proceeds will go to the American Red Cross to support the disaster relief efforts to help those affected by the earthquake in Japan. To read more statement from Kaori, click here.
The exhibition as a whole embraces the unusual, quirky and off-beat appeal of artworks that do not always fit into categories such as painting, drawing and sculpture. It runs from April 23rd to Sept 2nd.
For more info:
http://www.tempe.gov/tca/gallery/
www.kaoritakamura.com
Monica Aissa Martinez 