YUIKO RÁYKA
SELFVERSE
ARTWORK OVERVIEW
SELFVERSE
"SELFVERSE" is a viewer-participatory and interactive light installation work.
The viewer uses a flashlight to shine the light on reflective materials (aurora film, hologram sheets, mirror balls, etc.) installed in the exhibition space, and the illusionary reflections are projected onto the walls and ceiling. This work invites the viewer to interact, contemplate, and investigate the process of visual creation.
Viewers will be able to take the reflective materials and freely reconfigure them to create their own unique reflections while enjoying various experiments. Viewers will be pleasantly surprised by the beautiful scene that suddenly appears, as if by magic. Collaborating with other viewers, they will be able to integrate and expand their own worlds. This creative world of unlimited possibilities, created by each viewer, is called "SELFVERSE" in this work.
This analogue interaction, without any programming or digital equipment, will result in a one-of-a-kind creation by the viewers.
This open-ended, unlimited, simple, fun and playful experiential installation will ignite the imagination of people of all ages. The artist believes that this light-experimentation as an art medium provides an opportunity to enhance self-expansion powered by one's own creativity.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I have consistently attempted to express the unknown possibilities that we as humans all possess and the wonder of our individual existence through my artworks. In this work "SELFVERSE," the viewers are not as static bystanders but an active force, experiencing with joy the sparkle of his or her own potentiality.
We are now entering a new era. Having experienced many hardships and changes in recent years, I believe that we are called upon to evolve spiritually for a new era. It is my hope that this work, SELFVERSE, will contribute to awakening people for the future. We will use our creativity and potential to create a new era.
Yuiko Ráyka
Past Exhibitions for SELFVERSE
2023 "MUSIC IS・SELFVERSE" (Art Yī, Brussels)
2022 "SELFVERSE: The Beyond" at the Beautiful World Exhibition (Kawamura Noh-Theater, Kyoto)
2022 Solo presentation "SELFVERSE: Sparkling Heart" at the CONTEXT Art Miami (Miami)
2022 Seattle Art Fair (Seattle)
2021 Solo Exhibition "INTO THE SELFVERSE" (Gallery G-77, Kyoto)
2018 "Create your Universe" at The World of The Small and Big Universe Exhibition (Daizenin-Temple Gallery, Kyoto)
VIEWERS' IMPRESSIONS
from the artist talk at YUIKO RÁYKA Exhibition "INTO THE SELFVERSE"
December 22, 2021, Gallery G-77, Kyoto
About the artist
YUIKO RÁYKA
Japanese contemporary artist, born and currently lives in Tokyo, Japan.
Her body of work is to focus on the unknown potential of each of us as human beings and our evolving spirits toward a new era. She attempts to create multidimensional expressions that work in the realm of human consciousness by combining physical experiences with non-physical medium.
In recent years, she has been creating interactive installations that emphasize experience and media works utilizing VR, Metaverse and NFT.
Biography
Born in 1978 in Tokyo, Japan. Graduated from Kyoto Seika University, Faculty of Art, BFA in painting in 2003. Studied at the Australian National University School of Art & Design, majoring in Gold & Silversmithing as an exchange student in 2001 - 2002. During her student days, she was exposed to a variety of materials and methods and tried her hand at expression through two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and installation works.
After graduating from university, she moved to Germany in 2004 and worked as a graphic designer at a video production company in Dusseldorf. Upon returning to Japan, she worked as a graphic designer then after she started her career as an illustrator in 2010 (under a different name). Her works have been used for the cover of the paperback edition of Sayaka Murata's "Hoshi ga sū mizu" (Kodansha), NHK TV program character design, fashion brand "deep sweet easy" produced by Ai Tominaga, Excel Hotel Tokyu guest room artwork, and stage art etc.
In 2014, she shifted her main focus to artistic activities and began creating mixed media and installations. Currently, she has three series: "SELFVERSE," an experiential installation, "SOUL GEMS," an installation and media art, and "Unknown Power," a mixed media series, which have been shown at art fairs and exhibitions around the world.
Since 2021, she has been presenting digital works as NFTs (under the name AURORA) and participating in many national and international events and projects. In 2022, she began embarking on an expression utilizing VR and the metaverse.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 May 17 -21, Solo presentation, VOLTA New York (New York, Gallery G-77)
2022 Solo presentation "SELFVERSE: Sparkling Heart", CONTEXT Art Miami (Miami, Gallery G-77)
2022 "SOUL GEMS META" (Gallery G-77, Kyoto)
2021 "INTO THE SELFVERSE" (Gallery G-77, Kyoto)
2018 "Soul Collection" (The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo, Tokyo)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 "MUSIC IS・SELFVERSE" (Co-exhibition with Keisuke Watanabe, Art Yī, Brussels)
2022 Beautiful World Exhibition (Kawamura Noh-Theater, Kyoto)
2022【NFT】#NFFT_2022 ”New Future Fashion x Technology (AL Tokyo, Tokyo)
2022【NFT】CRYPTO ART FES 2022 (conata, Metaverse)
2022【NFT】Made in Japan 3.0: Defining a New Phy-gital Reality (K11 Art Mall, Hong Kong)
2021【NFT】CAWA Crypto Art Week Asia in Tokyo (Voxels, Metaverse / CIRCUS Tokyo, Tokyo)
2021【NFT】SBINFT×POW!WOW!JAPAN "VIRTUAL SHIRAHAMA" (Voxels, Metaverse)
2021 「WHEREABOUTS」(TURNER GALLERY, Tokyo)
2020 "FIRST STEP EXHIBITION" (as an invited artist, Gallery G-77, Kyoto)
2020 "Mostra di Artisti Giapponesi Contemporanei" (monogramma arte contemporanea, Roma)
2019 ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA AWARD 2019 (Fukuoka Asia Art Museum, Fukuoka)
2018 "The World of The Small and Big Universe" (Daizenin-Temple gallery, Kyoto)
2017 SICF18 (Spiral Hall, Tokyo)
2015 independent (Hulic Hall, Tokyo)
ART FAIRS
2023 VOLTA New York (New York, Gallery G-77)
2022 CONTEXT Art Miami (Miami, Gallery G-77)
2022 Seattle Art Fair (Seattle, Gallery G-77)
2022 London Art Fair (London, Gallery G-77)
2020 Affordable Art Fair Milan (Milan, Emigre Collection)
2017 Art Stage Jakarta (Jakarta, Emigre Collection)
2017 Art Expo Malaysia Plus (Kuala Lumpur, Emigre Collection)
2017 Le Japon (Espace Japon, Paris, Gallery Maison d'Art)
2016 ART KAOHSIUNG (Kaohsiung, Emigre Collection)
2015 Affordable Art Fair NYC (New York, Emigre Collection)
2014 Young Art Taipei (Taipei, Emigre Collection)
AWARDS
2021【NFT】#BigBangNFT Competition winner
2019 FLAG prize
2019 AFAF WARD 2019 finalist
2013 Taipei International art competition 2013 finalist
2012 WONDER SEEDS 2012
OTHER WORKS of the artist
SOUL GEMS META
VR installation, NFT, 2022-
The "World of Souls" (3D animation) composed of 101 individual "SOUL GEMS" is created in the metaverse, and viewers experience it in a field VR format. In the "World of Souls", the viewers take the form of the avatar called "the core of soul" to simulate the sensations of another dimension away from the physical body.
The SOUL GEMS are tradeable as NFTs and they will weave their stories in the blockchain universe.
Our souls and us as humans. The core of the work and the medium of expression. This work attempts to find similarities in the relationship between these things, presenting them from the perspective of evolution.
The project itself will continually update -moving with new technology in a continuous state of evolution.
Unknown Power
Mixed media, 2019-