Hearth and Bakers

Size: H91.0 × W72.7 × D2.5 cm (F30)

Medium: oil on canvas

Year: 2025
Edition: one of a kind (unique piece)

Certificate: ⚪ ︎

Signature: ︎⚪ ︎

With a blazing fire in the background, a mural depicting the process of making bread, excavated from the tomb of the Pharaoh butler who also appears in “The Fire,” floats diagonally. Since the upper part of the mural is burnt, it looks like printed paper. The wire work in the foreground is in the shape of a Hestia statue appearing in “Der Olymp oder die Mythologie der Griechen und Römer (Olympus, or Greek and Roman mythology)” published in Germany in 1878, and adhesives like oil adhere to it. Underfoot, there is a furnace that also commonly appears in “The Fire” and “Bread, Fire, Cooking.”

Kumakura Ryoko's production begins by setting a theme. Next, pieces in line with the theme are collected from web searches and book information, a place like a workbench is set up digitally on an iPad, etc., and the pieces and composition are examined. After that, as the artist herself says, “making a motif,” the work table is reproduced in a real space, the wire is bent, the image is printed out, cut, glued, and arranged. Once the content and structure are fixed, the motif is copied while looking at what was taken and output in painting format.

Most of the elements that appear in the work are images found on the web or in books, and after all, replicated information that circulates in a state where the real thing is somewhere. This information continues to tell the story and background related to the original, but it does not mention that it is a copy itself. However, in Kumakura's works, attention should be paid to the fact that mechanisms that emphasize the uniqueness of reproduction and raise questions are applied during the motif making process.

In terms of the relationship between the real thing and the reproduction, there is a bakery and cafe space attached to the exhibition hall Gallery & Bakery Tokyo 8 min., so people will see the work along with the aroma and taste of bread. The experience of thinking about the relationship and history between bread and humans while chewing on the real thing may be said to be a trick unique to this place.

Period
May 31 (Sat) - July 1 (Tue), 2025

Venue

Gallery & Bakery Tokyo 8 min

Address

104-0031

TODA BUILDING 1F, 1-7-1 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Google maps

Opening Hours
08:00〜19:00

Closed

Open every day during the exhibition period

Admission
Free

Access

3 min walk from exit 6 of Kyobashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line.

5 min walk from exit B1 of Nihonbashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line.

8 min walk from the Yaesu Central Exit of Tokyo Station on all JR Line.

Tokyo 8 min official Instagram