PAST EXHIBITION

Yuko Nishikawa Solo Exhibition
"Moshi-Moshi Karuta"

Open

2025/5/2 (Friday) – 5/25(Sunday)
13:00-19:00
Wednesday – Saturday, last Sunday

CALM & PUNK GALLERY is pleased to announce Moshi-Moshi Karuta, a solo exhibition by New York-based artist Yuko Nishikawa from 2 May (Fri) to 25 May (Sun), 2025. This exhibition is a follow-up to her solo exhibition held last year at the GASBON METABOLISM art complex in Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture, entitled Mossy Mossy’ at the GASBON METABOLISM art complex in Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture, last year.In addition to the previous series, new mobiles are also displayed. The mobile works hanging in the sky-high space sway quietly in response to the visitors’ movements and the flow of air, bringing poetic rhythms and deep reflections to them.

Currently based in Brooklyn, Nishikawa graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, worked as an interior designer on lighting and furniture, and has been an independent designer and artist since 2018. She works with a variety of materials, including clay, wire, paper pulp, fabric and ceramics, to create and present sculptures, mobiles and lighting. In this exhibition, minimalist objects are displayed floating in space using paper, pulp and steel wire.

The new series, Moshi-Moshi Karuta, was created in response to the first 48 letters of the Japanese card game Iroha Karuta. Like a play on words that connects the grammar and syllables of iroha karuta and the free association of words, the mobile artworks hanging from the walls and ceiling lightly Like a play on words that connects the grammar and syllables of iroha karuta and the free association of words, the mobile artworks hanging from the walls and ceiling lightly.Please take this opportunity to visit the CALM & PUNK GALLERY.


Opening Recption
Date : May 2 (Fri), 2025 17:00 – 20:00
Venue : CALM & PUNK GALLERY　

Exhibition Information
Dates : May 28 (Fri) – May 25 (Sun), 2025 13:00 – 19:00
Open: Wednesday – Saturday, final Sunday of the exhibition
Appointments available outside regular hours
Venue: CALM & PUNK GALLERY

Artist Statement

May, 2025 −Yuko Nishikawa

I began working on Moshi-Moshi Karta by exploring the possibility of creating an environment, story, and an ecosystem through a series of objects generated by wordplay. Inspired by the card game of iroha karuta, where proverbs represent each Japanese syllable organized into a poem, Moshi-Moshi Karuta employs objects with titles linked by their sound. This exhibition evolves from Mossy-Mossy, my last spring’s installation in Gasbon, Hokuto. I used “cookies” and wire sculptures to create a green environment, interpreting moss’s resiliency, sensitivities, and wonder. This spring, I’m transplanting some works from Mossy-Mossy into an urban space, creating a vertical cloud where new creations emerge. The new series’s first artwork starts with shi, following the last sound of “moshi moshi” (Mossy Mossy), my greeting to the Japanese audience. I then followed the same system to create successive objects, joining them by their titles. I’m curious – among these objects linked by invisible connections, what narrative will viewers construct?

撮影：Matthew Williams

Yuko Nishikawa
Ceramic artist based in New York City, graduated from FIT in 2002, worked as an interior designer, then spent the next 10 years designing lighting and furniture for the luxury market. 2018 she became independent as a designer and artist. She has exhibited paintings, cabinets, glass works, etc. Recently he has been deeply involved in ceramics and clay.

Yuko Nishikawa
HP : https://www.yukonishikawa.com/

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/yuko_nishikawa/