Masako Miki / MATRIX 273

January 9–April 28, 2019

A magical installation inspired by Shinto beliefs and the shape-shifting beings of Japanese folklore.

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Masako Miki: Karakasa-obake (umbrella ghost), 74 x 21 x 21 in.; Ungaikyo (possessed mirror), 25 1/2 x 35 x 10 in.; and Kinoko (mushroom ghost), 38 x 34 x 19 in.; all 2018; wool on foam, walnut and wenge wood; courtesy of the artist and CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions.
Masako Miki: Hitotsume-kozō (one-eyed goblin), 2018; wool on foam, walnut wood; 46 x 59 x 11 in.; courtesy of the artist and CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions.
Masako Miki: Abumi-guchi (stirrup mouth furry ghost), 2018; wool on foam, walnut wood; 53 1/2 x 48 x 29 in.; courtesy of the artist and CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions.
Masako Miki: Kuchisake-onna (Mouth tear woman), 2018; wool on foam, cherry wood; 42 x 71 x 13 in.; courtesy of the artist and CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions.
Masako Miki: Installation view of Forest of Yokai at Watermill Center, New York, 2018; wool and industrial blue foam; dimensions variable; courtesy of the artist.

Upcoming
Films
Upcoming
Events
Selected
Objects
Past
Films
Past
Events

Past Events

Friday, January 18, 1–5 PM (artist will be present 1–3 PM)
Women's March Poster Workshop with the BAMPFA Art Lab and Masako Miki

Join MATRIX 273 artist Masako Miki at Untitled, San Francisco and create a poster for the 2019 Women's March.

Pier 35, San Francisco

Offsite workshop
Wednesday, January 16, 12 PM
Artist’s Talk: Masako Miki

The MATRIX artist talks about Shinto traditions in Japan and how they have manifested in her felt sculptures and installation work.

BAMPFA
Saturday, January 12, 11:30 AM–1 PM or 1–2:30 PM
Gallery + Studio: Roving Wool-Roving Characters

With Masako Miki’s bright colors and squishy forms as inspiration, make your own creatures from felt, fabric, and found objects.

BAMPFA

For ages 6–12 with accompanying adult(s)

Masako Miki / MATRIX 273

January 9–April 28, 2019

Masako Miki was born in Japan but has made the Bay Area, and Berkeley in particular, her home for more than twenty years. In her work she remains close to her ancestral traditions, especially those that arise from her association with Buddhist and Shinto beliefs and practices, as well as traditional Japanese folklore. Her current work, she says, is “inspired by the idea of animism from the Shinto belief of yaoyorozu no kami [eight million gods] who are both good and evil with a wide range of personalities.” In defining this world of shifting boundaries, Miki creates larger-than-life-size, felt-covered forms drawn from the Japanese folk belief in yokai (shape-shifters) who can disguise themselves in any number of different forms. Miki creates the semi-abstract, sculptural forms utilizing brilliant colors and sets them into a magical environment suggesting another reality. The installation moves from the three-...

Walking around and among the large forms in the gallery, visitors feel the sense of changing perception between the forms and images as they morph and shift between two and three dimensions. The installation reflects Miki’s interest in and connection to Shinto traditions of the interrelatedness of all beings, animate and inanimate, in the universe.

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Download the exhibition brochure (PDF)

Masako Miki / MATRIX 273 is organized by Julia M. White, senior curator for Asian art, with Matthew Coleman, curatorial assistant. The MATRIX Program is made possible by a generous endowment gift from Phyllis C. Wattis and the continued support of the BAMPFA Trustees.

Masako Miki / MATRIX 273

January 9–April 28, 2019

Selected Exhibition Objects

Installation

Forest of Yokai (shapeshifters)

Masako Miki

Installation

Forest of Yokai (shapeshifters)

Masako Miki

Past Events

Women's March Poster Workshop with the BAMPFA Art Lab and Masako Miki

Artist’s Talk: Masako Miki

Gallery + Studio: Roving Wool-Roving Characters