Life is Merely a Time Killer
※Photos are for reference only.
Main Gallery Area Artist
There is only you
※Photos are for reference only.
I do not know, I
※Photos are for reference only.
Artist Information
Ayako Ebata
1985 Born in Ibaraki
2009 Tokyo University of the Arts, Oil Painting
2015 “JIS is it - Invisible Standard -” Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum GalleryC (Tokyo,Japan)
2016 “ART in PARK HOTEL TOKYO 2016” Park Hotel Tokyo (Tokyo,Japan)
2016 “Life is Merely a Time Killer” Galerie Tokyo Humanité (Tokyo,Japan)
2017 “The 20th Okamoto Taro contemporary art prize” Taro Okamoto Museum of Art Kawasaki City (Kanagawa,Japan)
2017 “Shinjuku Takashimaya art gallery 10th anniversary ~ and spread ~” Shinjuku Takashimaya Art gallery (Tokyo,Japan)
In the reality which is unlikely to turn out as I wish, the inside of a painting is the only place where I can do whatever I like without being interrupted. One by one, like a dream journal, I give shape to the world of my imagination from random thoughts which would be interesting if it existed.
Selector
Art critic
[Comment by Selector]
The beings portrayed by Ayako Ebata are peculiar. It is unclear whether they are monsters or fish with human faces. Either way, they are disturbing but somehow not devilish – perhaps they are even charming. Looking at her animation work, their movements are extremely simple, which draws out their cuteness. An ambiguity between creepy and cute can sometimes be viewed through the esthetic concepts of kitsch or vulgarity, but in the case of Ebara, expression using eraser stamps affects the significance of this ambiguity. Her materials and methods are not necessarily regarded as artistic, but are elements of our daily lives. It is through this, I suspect, that she is able to skillfully visualize the way in which the ordinary and unusual, beauty and ugliness overlap. Monsters live in the gap between those things – the charm of her work lies in that realization.