Akiko Ikeuchi: Silk Vortices

Born in Tokyo in 1967, Akiko received a doctorate in painting from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. For over two decades she has been hanging her delicately crafted string sculptures in galleries around Japan, Korea, and New York. The installations are constructed from extremely delicate silk threads, and despite the chaotic appearance of the knotted webs Akiko plans each work as an architect would plan a building with precision blueprints that involve a complex internal framework. The resulting works evoke powerful forces of nature: tornadoes, whirlpools, and perhaps even galaxies themselves. “Knotted Thread”. Over two decades, I have created forms of “thread sculpture” which is constructed from extremely delicate silk thread. The sculpture is balanced by the weight and tension, which is installed carefully and sensitively. Anchor threads are set by the orientation of north, south, east and west in the room where I’m searching fulcrums to match the geomagnetism. Whenever viewers step closer to the sculpture to observe, threads vibrate slightly in the air according to human movements. The threads are also stretched to the changes of humidity especially moisture contained in their breath. I am continuously trying to mediate something invisible, not easily visible in this world, which is mostly fragile. I believe it can be formable and tangible throughout my “thread sculpture”.