Over and Over – Mika Aono at Lindgren Gallery
A Review of Over and Over – a solo exhibition of work by Mika Aono
Written by Vicki Krohn Amorose
Mika Aono presents works of delicacy and daring in her current show, Over and Over, at the Lindgren Gallery. With touches of idiosyncratic humor, she explores a theme of mortality. Aono’s statement acknowledges her sadness regarding the environmental crisis and the recent passing of her parents. Yet her quirky choice of materials conveys a sadness that is not still and passive, but an agile investigation of what we hold onto during the life we have.
Throughout the show, the artist questions the essence of what is deemed valuable.
In the sculpture Precious, a wall-mounted glass sphere holds rusty screws, nails and bolts. The contrast of materials and textures is jarring, the thin glass straining to contain a heavy collection of once-useful items. A rusted key hangs suspended from the sphere. A key is an object that signals, “don’t lose this.” As displayed in its corroded state, the key survived longer than its purpose; “don’t lose this” has transformed into useless. Archivist presents a grouping of tiny lidded jars, each labeled with miniscule handwriting. The artist found the jars at a flea market and thought them remarkable. She then created a wooden display shelf with fitted holes, thereby venerating a personal collection that was once dear to someone.
The artist’s enjoyment of working with Styrofoam packing peanuts is evident in the sculpture, Purification, where the peanuts spill forth in threaded chains from a hole in a rusted piece of iron, like green sausage through a meat grinder. The Styrofoam peanuts are single-use items that will remain intact long after the iron has turned to dust. Which is more absurd: the sculpture or the material itself?
In two site-specific installations, Broken Line and Strata, Strata, Aono uses shadow to great advantage, filling the stark white space with depths of overlapping lines. Strata, Strata displays a scratchy pen and ink drawing behind layers of suspended fishing line and white beads that throw shadows on top of the drawing. A plaster cast of the artist’s hand rests on the floor, its solid form chipped and dented, and touching the lines of filament.
This piece strikes me as an ode to all artists, scribbling away, making connections, ultimately asking: how long will this last and did I make an impression?
Broken Line is composed of two pieces of pipe, suspended to mark lines in the air, with a chain of Styrofoam peanuts falling down to touch the floor and connect both pipes. The floor is marked by barely perceptible smudges of salt, like some mysterious residue of motion. A small white paper, embossed with the form of a desiccated snake, sits propped against the wall. Its shadows offer the shape of movement remembered.
A hanging banner of Unryu rice paper, titled Continuum, is displayed for viewing from both sides. The artist employs etched and letterpress images to reference her native Japan, including symbols of disks, moons and a television broadcasting the Tokyo Olympics of 1964. Humorous repetitions of rabbit heads reference the Japanese folktale of a hare who lives on the moon. Detailed etchings of stalactites remind me of growth over eons. Again, the artist infuses her imagery with references to time passing and flowing. The sensation of flow is prominent in the four-panel woodcut on paper, titled Depth, adroitly rendered in autumn shades of green and gold. Multiple horizontal broken lines move like currents on a river, referencing the river of time. The artist asks me to reflect on when that flow is cut off, just as lines stop at the edge of paper.
Mika Aono embraces the pun while contemplating the somber.
Carry On, a letterpress broadside on Okawara paper, summarizes the artist’s intent; it contains a poem that repeats the words, “carry and carry and carry on.” This exhibition offers an examination of what we carry with us through life, and why. Utilizing the repeated imagery of broken lines, skillful expression in paradoxical materials and her own lived experience, the artist speaks with composed strength and perceptive wit.
After the show, as I drove home down the Interstate, Aono’s art stayed with me. I watched the pavement’s broken lines glide past. Traffic transformed into a snaking chain of headlights as each of us, in our own vehicle, hurtled forward. We carry the abject faith that the road will continue.
“Over and Over” is a solo exhibition of work by Mika Aono, on view Oct 21-Dec 5, 2019 at the Lindgren Gallery, George Fox University, OR.
Vicki Krohn Amorose is an artist, writer and arts advocate. Her book, ‘Art-Write,’ is used widely by artists and art schools. Her writing has appeared in Professional Artist Magazine and exhibition catalogues.