12/2~12/4 Zoryuの展示を開催!

Event 2022年11月30日


「OKAMA」

2022/12/2(金)~12/4(日)9:00~21:00

アーティスト:造類(ゾウルイ)(韓国)

スタジオに展示されている28人のポートレート(各15cm×15cm)には、イベントタイトルにもなっている”オカマ” (ここでは女性的なアイデンティティを取り入れる男性を指す言葉として定義します。)が描かれています。
観客はスタジオに展示されている人物の描写に興味を惹かれると同時に混乱するかもしれません。これらの顔が「本来は」男性でありながら、女性にも見えるからです。
性別が曖昧に描かれた顔が女性なのか男性なのか、成長過程で手に入れざるを得なかった二項対立的視点から読み取ろうとすると、描かれている人物の性別を”男性”か”女性”に判別する際に当惑するかもしれません。写実的に描かれた人物像は、どこかで見たことがある人物のように見え、観るものの記憶を刺激します。
また、立体作品は、人々のジェンダーの定義付けにおける固定観念を指摘する象徴として表現されています。これらの作品は日常生活で見かける既製品で構成される予定です。

 

 

Exhibition Name: “OKAMA”
Artist: Zoryu (
造類, ゾウルイ)
December 2nd (Fri) – December 4th (Sun), 2022
9:00-21:00

The main event – portraits(15 x 15 cm sized each) of 28 people are going to be seen as “Okama”s, regarding the title of the exhibition.


“Okama” is known as a Japanese colloquial term referring to men who adopt feminine identities

and mannerisms. This leads the audience not only to the enter to the exploration of facial depiction, but also into the first trap. They would think that these faces are “originally” men, but they are in fact, feminine as well.

The truth is, however, they are all fictional figures made by the recombination of images of people that artist obtained in Tokyo, Shinjuku 2-chome queer bars. They are neither men nor women. Faces designed solely based on visual materials are literally Non-binary. All is just a few layers of dried paints on canvas. Neue Ästhetik und alte Technik.

Nevertheless, the audience is expected to read these faces whether they are feminine or masculine – by the lens of dichotomous stereotypes they have been forced to obtain while growing up. The audience might struggle to define their genders into two. As they appear realistic, and look like real existing people somewhere, the more the audience spends time gazing, the more confused they may become.

Other sculptures will serve as the visualizations pointing out these people’s stereotypical gender defining process.
These sculptures will be composed of readymade objects found in everyday life.


Artist Profile
Zoryu (
造類, ゾウルイ)

Born in South Korea
BFA Sculpture, College of Fine Arts, Seoul National University, South Korea, 2022

Started world tour 2022.~
Saminjeon, group exhibition, Gangneung City Hotel, Gangneung, South Korea, 2022Studio H Canada Residency, Metchosin, Canada, 2022
Arts Chiyoda AIR 3331 Residency, Tokyo, Japan, 2022
Terracotta Colorata, Solo exhibition, Rhizom, Nykøbing Sjælland, Denmark, 2023

Media Used: Sculpture, painting, installation, performance, craft

Trained classically in painting and sculpture, the artist has worked on numerous figure paintings, as well as marble and ceramic figures. The works invite the audience to focus on the technical depth and proficiency of materials, which in some ways can be considered rare in contemporary sculpture. By adhering to the extinct and anachronistic language of art, Zoryu not only examines, but also mocks the meaning and majesty of “regression” in the various epochs of art history. Zoryu spontaneously sets the theme of the works by discovering contradictions, stereotypes, and disagreements of our understood history.