Maki Fine Arts is pleased to present "From a dark place to a bright place", a solo show by Michiko Nakatani, starting Saturday, May 23, 2015. This will be Nakatani's second solo show at Maki Fine Arts since her first exhibition three years ago.

Born in Tokyo in 1981, Nakatani has received growing acclaim with her work using a sunk-relief carving method, in contrast to the standard relief method, creating concaves on the supporting medium--plaster--and then filling the depressions with clear resin. Using key motifs of young girls and birds, her work generates traces of confinement while exuding a tranquil yet strong presence. Nakatani is the 2010 recipient of the VOCA encouragement prize. Recent exhibitions include her solo show a place between being and non-being (Yokohama Museum of Art, Art Gallery 2011), a Koganecho Bazaar exhibition (2012), and her solo show souzou no kage (Department of Sculpture Gallery at Tama Art University 2014). Nakatani also studied abroad in Dresden from 2012 to 2014 as part of the Japanese Government Overseas Study Programme for Artists.

For "From a dark place to a bright place", Nakatani will create a house encapsulated in plaster inside the gallery space. She will also showcase a central sculpture piece, a remnant of a boat built from a collection of images including humans, birds, and forests, as well as several other convex-type relief works derived from the image of the boat. From the imagery created, viewers will come face-to-face with the theme of existence and non-existence.