YOD Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition, "I am a Piece of Dream", by Chika Tanikawa that will be held from 18th September to 16th October 2010.

Tanikawa defines her painting as "self-portrait" by herself. The subject that she draws every day in her self-portrait is "the empty self". She says that her "self-portrait" is only a tool to express her external appearance and she does not presumably provide elements to form her ego in it. By supposing that her raison d’être is uncertain, she continues to paint "self-portrait" with the purpose to look for a meaning or definition of the existence of herself.

It can be said that the factor in Tanikawa’s execution of “self-portrait” is largely reflected in the trend toward contemporary society in Japan. Her generation around the early 20-year-old has been brought up with enormous information which is benefited from the digitalized society since they were a little child. This generation who familiar with virtual reality, created by the Internet, computer games, cartoons and so on, tends quickly to absorb various information around the world as if they experience by themselves. On the other hand, it is more difficult for them to find out a proper preceptor solution from the tremendous volume of information that is continuously renewed every day. This chaotic situation drives them not to catch up making a choice and sorting over what they really need to assimilate and makes them hard to present their sense of value clearly. In the circumstances that she can not define a borderline between reality and virtual reality, she believes that a "dream" that she has in the night time is the most reliable experience to find herself. Her representation in "self-portrait" is a true copy from what she sees in her "dreams". Her “dreams” that come from recollections in her deep mind become important filters for her to see what is true in society.

Additionally, another concept, "hometown", is also an important element for her to find herself. By picking up symbolic elements, such as her mother’s body and birthplace that can be recognized from her origin, Tanikawa finds a direction to make up the deficit into "the empty self" and repeatedly paints the elements in her "portrait".

Looking for herself who got lost in the border between the reality and dreams, new "self-portrait" works by Tanikawa will be mainly shown in this exhibition. She will also have a live painting on the outside wall of the gallery during the exhibition. We will be able to share a moment of experiencing a new sense of value presented by the new generation who represents the reality reflected in the contemporary Japanese society with the motifs that are derived from "a piece of the dream".