AYAKO ROKAKKU
DETOUR FOR AN ICE CREAM FAIRY
PALAZZO CORNER MOCENIGO, VENICE, ITALY
18 APRIL – 26 MAY 2024
OPENING
17 APRIL 2024 | 5–8 PM
DETOUR FOR AN ICE CREAM FAIRY is a solo exhibition of Murano glass sculptures and new paintings by Ayako Rokkaku, which will take place in parallel to the events of the 60th Venice Biennale. This unique presentation is comprised of 8 glass works that the Japanese-born artist made in collaboration with a master glass blower at Berengo Studio. Additionally, Rokkaku will include six new paintings, including two triptychs, which took inspiration from the artist’s experiences with Murano glass. Together, Rokkaku created these two bodies of work as an homage to the city of Venice, which inspired and challenged her to produce the paintings and sculptures on display in DETOUR FOR AN ICE CREAM FAIRY.
Ayako Rokkaku, UNTITLED, 2023, hand-blown glass, various dimensions, unique
Image based on photos by Francesco Allegretto © Courtesy of Berengo Studio and the artist
Rokkaku is known for her colorful canvases populated by imaginary landscapes and fantastical characters. There is an ebullience, an undeniable charm, to her paintings, a lightness of being that comes into focus through the artist’s technique: painting solely with her fingers, and only in acrylic colors. The absence of any prior design or drawing for the realization of her works means that the process of bringing her paintings to life is a performative one. Indeed, Rokkaku stages live painting performances in contexts where her work will be exhibited, bringing the dialogue between audience and artist as close to one another as the touch that animates her inspired practice. So, what is it for an artist who works through the directness and immediacy of touch to turn to an art form – artisanal glass – that makes such intuitive interaction almost impossible?
© Image by Ancona Vito
The invitation to participate in parallel to the 60th iteration of the Venice Biennale prompted Rokkaku to imagine new materials, formats, and processes in order to create a body of works directly inspired by the history and traditions of Venice. One cannot help but stumble into the annals of Venice’s art and history, the floating isle an artwork unto itself, an exquisite jewel that somehow continues to exist in the face of the changing world around it. The heritage of Venetian glass, and the spectacular “colorito” of the painting celebrated in the city during the Renaissance, became the new source materials for Rokkaku. And despite the weight of these traditions, the Japanese-born artist managed to infuse her unique sense of fantasy into these new works, adapting but also transforming her chosen media in turn. First came the glass sculptures, which Rokkaku developed in close collaboration with one of the master glass blowers at Berengo Studio. Using initial drawings as models to guide the design of the glass pieces, the resulting sculptures became the product of intensive collaboration. 
© Image by Ancona Vito
The artist’s trademark innocence and playfulness are maintained through the inclusion of eyes reminiscent of the characters that emerge behind acrylic swirls of paint in her canvases. In one of the Murano sculptures, tiny bunnies populate the object’s base, building a whimsical setting, typical of much of the artist’s imaginary worlds. In another, a raspberry-colored mass sits atop a snow-white figure, the crown a perfect fit for one of Rokkaku’s fairies. The liquidity of the hat is reminiscent both of the movement of glass blowing and folding and the gravitational pull of slowly melting gelato. All of the glass works created at Berengo Studio have this quality of sweetness, accentuating the smoothness of glass through allusions to ice cream and childlike fantasy. What Rokkaku was unable to effect through glass – touch, first and foremost – she teases by invoking viewers’ desire to reach for the melting, saccharine sculptures in front of their eyes, exciting touch through an act of deferment.
© Image by Ancona Vito
The 6 paintings included in DETOUR FOR AN ICE CREAM FAIRY were created after the production and realization of the glass sculptures, and Rokkaku has explained that they should be seen as the results of having learned something new about her creative process by virtue of working with glass. The elements of these painted works are familiar to the artist’s language, imbued with the levity and allure that has become a hallmark of her work. The format of the triptych is noteworthy, though, especially given the context of Venice and its tradition of altarpieces that adorn its many cathedrals. The unique structure of the triptych – three autonomous panels that are grouped together – also speaks to the Biennale’s theme, “Foreigners are Everywhere”. Rather than appealing to liturgy or narrative, Rokkaku’s triptychs are fully present as a world both imaginary and real, for their making is everywhere to be seen and felt. It is Rokkaku’s unique vision of a world both fanciful and deeply factual that allows for her thoroughly contemporary take on the forms and traditions of a city that plays host to art as a living entity – alive and adorned, like a reliquary of the present.
OPENING HOURS
MONDAY – FRIDAY | 9 AM – 12 PM & 2 – 5 PM
SATURDAY | 9 AM – 12 PM
FREE ENTRANCE
