Masako Miki
LOT 12
Sound Shapeshifter, 2022
XPS foam, wool, wenge wood
51 x 25 x 25 in
Courtesy of the artist and RYAN LEE
Suggested retail value: $42,000
Starting bid: $22,000
About the Artwork
Masako Miki is a multimedia artist whose work encompasses installation, large-scale sculpture, printmaking, watercolor, and felting. A native of Japan, she bases her narrative on her own experiences of becoming bicultural in the United States at the age of eighteen. Miki delves into the psychological aspects of how one processes new environments and cultures; ultimately, her work merges two existing cultures into a new one. Her current work is inspired by the idea of animism, from the Shinto belief of yaoyorozu no kami (eight million gods); these deities define a world of shifting boundaries and identities. Shapeshifters are a recurring symbol within ancestral Japanese mythologies and folklore, often manifesting and mingling opposing dualities. Miki translates these concepts into her creation of large felt forms based on shapeshifting spirits; her sculptures are semi-abstract, brilliantly colored, and frequently set against pop-esque backgrounds that suggest an alternate reality. The KMAC Contemporary Art Museum recently presented Masako Miki: Shapeshifting, a solo exhibition of her felt sculptures; and her work was included at the Katonah Museum of Art’s exhibition Constant Carnival: The Haas Brothers in Context. She has also been featured in exhibitions at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; de Young Museum; ICA San Jose; Marin Museum of Contemporary Art; and Nassima Landau Art Foundation, Israel, among others. Miki was commissioned to create a permanent large-scale sculptural installation at the Uber Technologies Headquarters in Mission Bay, San Francisco, and her functional furniture was commissioned as part of San Francisco’s forthcoming Minna-Natoma Art Corridor. Her work is held in the collections of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Byrd Hoffman Water Mill Foundation, NY; Collección SOLO, Spain; and SFMOMA.
HOW TO BID:
Bidding is available from
May 19-June 6.
1) Text 'READY TO BID' or call 628-279-6010.
OR
2) Visit the Headlands Auction Exhibition to see the artwork and bid via pencil & paper.