Manabu Ikeda
23/09/30 - 5:00 p.m.
Captivating curatorial talk that delves into the artistic journey and creative vision behind the Audain Art Museum’s Special Exhibition, Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage. This event will feature a thought-provoking conversation between the artist, Manabu Ikeda, and the exhibition curator, Kiriko Watanabe.
Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage features Ikeda’s meticulously detailed pen-and-ink drawings that are filled with astonishing images. This Japanese artist seeks inspiration from his surroundings to bring attention and awe to viewers as a way of sending warnings about the painful reality of environmental disasters. Central to his practice are metaphors of grief and the undeniable aspects of life that are often beyond society’s control, including the fundamental forces of Mother Nature. Ikeda’s drawings also reveal human resilience and the ability to rise above devastating situations when they appear impossible.
Curated by Kiriko Watanabe, the Audain Art Museum’s Gail & Stephen A. Jarislowsky Curator, this is Ikeda’s first solo retrospective in North America, showcasing over sixty works from national and international collections. Flowers from the Wreckage includes Foretoken (2008), Meltdown (2013) and Rebirth (2013-16), a selection of Ikeda’s large-scale drawings that relate to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the most devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power disaster in the country’s recorded history.
Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage will be on display in the Audain Art Museum’s Tom and Teresa Gautreau Galleries from June 24 to October 9, 2023. For more information, please visit the Audain Art Museum website.