Year: 1993
Medium: charcoal on paper
Dimensions: 31.4 x 24 cm (12 3/8 x 9 1/2 in.)
Acquired from SBI Art Auction, 2022
This work is a drawing produced in 1993, from a relatively early stage in Ikemura’s career. The early '90s coincides with the period that Ikemura began drawing images of young girls, which would serve as her main motif for a while thereafter. The young girls were portrayed as powerfully concealing life and sexuality within themselves, despite their transient nature. Many of her works in the “Girls” (“Shōjo”) series subtly incorporate marks reminiscent of a horizon-line, against a dark background. Or rather, they have an uncertain spatiality, only depicting something akin to a horizon-line serving as a hint. The representation of a young girl standing (sometimes lying down of sleeping) in a dignified manner, as almost the only tangible thing in such a space (reminiscent of the end of the world), expresses a sublime spirituality. These depictions of young girls could be described as particularly highly regarded among Ikemura’s works. By contrast, drawings from the 90s, including this piece, have a somewhat different feeling to those desolate oil paintings, often featuring the depiction of animals and human figures in stronger lines, exposing the inner aspects of those subjects. Fantastical elements, such as the unusual exaggeration of the body and hybrids of humans and creatures like dogs or rabbits, have consistently underpinned Ikemura’s worldview since the very start of her career in the '80s. This work is also imbued with a certain sense of anxiety and anger by the vertically stretched body and symbolic inclusion of vermilion. The way that the hair is portrayed as standing on end emphasizes this even further. Ikemura has been based in Europe for a long time and has fought to win independence and recognition for herself as an artist from her position as a foreign woman, one that is far from easy. Her tireless force of will is just like that of the figure of the girl in this drawing, who grips the earth with her toes, not letting go.
