Her name may not mean anything to you, but Chiharu Shiota, 49, Japanese by birth and Berliner by adoption for 25 years, is one of the most sought-after artists in the world. It has 25 exhibitions planned this year around the world. Her work around threads, which she weaves into often monumental works, fascinates, and has earned her the nickname “spider woman”. She is currently exhibiting in Paris, at the National Museum of Asian Arts-Guimet.
She is famous the world over for her spectacular installations of stretched threads, black, white and most often blood red. In 2020, the Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota had to pause her incessant travels and experience confinement. The opportunity to reflect on the domestic space.
” It projects the universe of each of the people who have been able to experience this confinement, who have been locked up, who have taken care of their furniture and their interior, as their interior has taken care of them. “, explains Claire Bettinelli, in charge of the contemporary art collections at the Guimet museum.
These mini-interiors similar to ours
In the museum’s rotunda, Chiharu Shiota, who represented Japan in 2015 at the Venice Biennale, has woven an impressive cocoon. A large round white base accommodates hundreds of dollhouse furniture, small tables, chairs, cupboards, tiny tea sets swathed in red threads. Threads that meander and rise to the ceiling, connecting us or separating us. The visitor details with curiosity these mini-interiors similar to ours. ” Everyone can come into their work and project their own emotions, their own feelings, their own memories. In this, his work is universal. So I think Chiharu Shiota is a universal artist. »
On all continents, its thread architectures intrigue, disturb or dazzle.
► Carte blanche to Chiharu Shiotauntil June 6 at the National Museum of Asian Arts-Guimet (MNAAG), in Paris.