The Japanese artist, Makiko Furuichi, 7th winner of the Ackerman-Fontevraud Residence, was inspired by cave art and painted colorful phantasmagorical elements from her imagination on the rock of the majestic cellars of the Ackerman House.
The artist Makiko Furuichi took over the monumental cellars of Maison Ackerman at the beginning of 2021 to bring to life a captivating pictorial work “Flow of Souls”. Enthusiastic at the idea of being able to express herself on the walls of the troglodyte gallery, like the decorated caves of the Paleolithic, the artist recognized for her astonishing mastery of watercolor takes inspiration here directly from art parietal using the lime painting technique.
A deliberate and stimulating challenge for Makiko Furuichi who decided to cover the ceiling of this majestic gallery by painting colorful spooky elements like “Yokai”. These supernatural hybrid creatures, from Japanese legends and translated as “spirit or demon” in French, are specters imagined by humans to symbolize the inexplicable. Malicious or pranksters, these spirits demonstrate the vices and fears of Man, the strange but also the joyful sides of life. Before finding themselves faced with this multitude of tangled shapes from which powerful energy emerges, the visitor will have luminous torches modeled by the artist to guide them like a first discoverer within this captivating cave.
At the heart of this extraordinary space, two large mirrors installed face to face, on either side of the gallery, create an impressive mise en abyme simulating a cavity dug in the tufa stone. The visitor then finds himself face to face with himself and his multiplied reflection, within this continuous artificial tunnel. “For this infinite installation, I was particularly inspired by a classic of Japanese imagery: Fushimi Inari Taisha, the shrine with 10 torii (traditional vermilion gates erected at the entrance to Shinto shrines) located south of Kyoto. The alignment of these thousands of torii forms an immense corridor emitting an aura imbued with magic, as disconcerting as it is fascinating,” explains Makiko Furuichi. A suspended moment, outside of time which invites the viewer to a true moment of introspection.
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