Keita Miyazaki

Barren Land

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Keita Miyazaki, Barren Land, 2018, Car parts and paper, 190 x 118 x 38 cm. Art Jameel Collection. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery.

Artwork Details

Artist

Keita Miyazaki

Title

Barren Land

Date

2018

Medium

Car parts and paper

Dimensions

190 x 118 x 38 cm

Credit Line

Art Jameel Collection

Work Description

Characterised by a hybridity of hard and soft materials, in Keita Miyazaki’s practice discarded car engine components are welded together to conjure up exotic vegetation or sci-fi creatures. These metal parts are then attached to richly coloured folded paper shapes, creating biomorphic sculptures of fascinating contradiction and a unique aesthetic that appears at once automated yet also natural in their organic features. Drawing on the artistic legacy of his home country, the kaleidoscopic, floral forms are crafted in traditional handmade Japanese techniques and material. The diverse concertina forms pop out from the metallic, used industrial parts as giving the forms a fresh lease of life and creating balance. Through the juxtaposition of a hard, metallic edge with vividly coloured, delicate origami, these unconventional hybrids escape formal design, rather evoking a sense of post-apocalyptic reconciliation.

Witnessing the destruction caused by the nuclear meltdown after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011 had a major influence on Miyazaki’s practice, where utopia and dystopia merge. Aligned with other artists who re-utilise discarded elements of the industrialised world to question the twentieth century obsessions that propelled the materialistic drive of so many of the world’s economies, Miyazaki has forged his own path, strengthened by an aesthetic which amalgamates Euro-American and Japanese influences. Barren Land both acknowledges our destructive and potentially catastrophic disharmony, and offers a glimpse of hopeful survival.

Artist Biography

Keita Miyazaki (b.1983, Tokyo, Japan) lives and works between Tokyo and London, UK

Keita Miyazaki’s sculptures feature materials whose association suggests strident discord and an unfamiliar visual language. From hybrid biomorphic sculptures combining discarded car engine parts with origami-like folded paper or sewn felt, often incorporating sound elements, he fashions sculptures of contradiction and aesthetic intrigue. Miyazaki holds a PhD in Craft Metal Casting from Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo (2015) and an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art, London (2013). His work has been presented in numerous shows in Japan and Europe, at venues such as Rin Art Association, Takasaki, Japan (2025); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2018); the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and Palazzo Sant’Apollonia, Venice (both 2017). 

www.keitamiyazaki.com

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