AYAKO ROKKAKU
MOUNTAINS OF NAMELESS EMOTIONS

KÖNIG SEOUL
14 DECEMBER 2024 – 25 JANUARY 2025

KÖNIG GALERIE is pleased to present MOUNTAINS OF NAMELESS EMOTIONS, a solo exhibition by Ayako Rokkaku, featuring an immersive central installation along with sculptures, a quadriptych and six additional smaller and medium-sized paintings.

At the heart of MOUNTAINS OF NAMELESS EMOTIONS is Rokkaku’s exploration of ineffable feelings, represented by a monumental mountain structure. This mountain is crafted from an assemblage of fabrics and wool, each piece individually cut by hand, creating an organic, tactile landscape where no two shapes are identical. At the peak of this mountain perches a large, creature-like figure, while smaller imaginary beings inhabit its slopes, echoing cycles of life and protection. For Rokkaku, this mountain emerged as a physical manifestation of intense, unarticulated emotions. “When I think about the reason for creating the work, its fundamental beginning must have been some kind of enormous emotional fluctuation or accumulation for me, but I cannot find a name for it,” she reflects.
Surrounding the installation, Rokkaku’s paintings provide a further exploration of these nameless emotions. They contain ambiguous shapes and spectral figures, including a symbolic girl who appears to blend into the landscape, at times confronting it, at times becoming a formless soul within it. This figure symbolizes the artist’s journey through emotional landscapes, a visual expression of her internal experiences made manifest on canvas.

Ayako Rokkaku, UNTITLED, 2024 © Courtesy of the artist

The idea for this exhibition germinated during a residency in Mallorca, where Rokkaku was surrounded by mountains. These sceneries stirred her imagination and inspired the creation of MOUNTAINS OF NAMELESS EMOTIONS within a gallery nestled against the Namsan hill in Seoul. Here, the Seoul mountains echo the forms of Rokkaku’s landscapes, creating a dialogue between the natural world and her inner realm. The layers of fabric and organic shapes in her work mirror the local, undulating hills, bridging the physical space of the gallery with the mental landscapes she explores.

In her own words, “I hope people see my words, and the works can touch the nameless emotion inside them.” This invitation to connect with unspoken feelings lies at the core of Rokkaku’s practice, where each piece encourages viewers to engage with the intangible and elusive emotions within themselves. Through her work, she creates a space of shared, resonant silence, where viewers are invited to enter and recognize fragments of their own inner landscapes, finding solace in the universality of these unspoken emotions.

FEATURED ARTIST

AYAKO ROKKAKU
Ayako Rokkaku (b. 1982 in Chiba, Japan) lives and works between Berlin, Porto, and Tokyo. Her artistic process involves an instinctive and performative approach, as she uses her bare hands to apply acrylic paint, translating the motion of her body onto the canvas. True to her distinctive technique, she moulds figures with the tips of her fingers, whether on canvas, through glass, or in bronze.

Rokkaku’s visual language seamlessly shifts between elusive abstract formations and figurative elements, drawing inspiration from the kawaii culture (Japanese for cute) and capturing the boundless imagination of a child. Rokkaku is known for he...
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