Retrospective monograph.
Born 1951 in Japan, which she left for Spain, Leiko Ikemura moved on to Switzerland, and finally Germany. She lived in Cologne before moving to Berlin in the 1990s.
Ikemura's works not only reflect the artist's profound concerns about the intricacies of the world around her but also her deep immersion in art historical traditions and awareness of the necessity to build upon them rather than discard them, occupying a distinctive position in the contemporary art landscape.
In her paintings, drawings and sculptures, Ikemura delves into the contradictions inherent in our perceptions of the world and our identities: the interplay between presence and absence, vulnerability and empowerment, light and shadow, nature and culture. Her hybrid beings across mediums blur such boundaries as they draw from traditions of both Western and Eastern art, making even those discernments obsolete in the face of creative freedom.
