Sandra Ono
Sandra Ono, Kaeru
Advertisement
Sandra Ono
Kaeru
May 10 - June 22, 2024
Bibeau Krueger is pleased to present Kaeru, Sandra Onoâs second solo exhibition with the gallery. Onoâs recent work examines grief and remembrance through new sculptures that serve as offerings to her grandmother who passed during the pandemic.
Central to the exhibition lies Onoâs connection to her grandmother, whose upbringing in a countryside town in Hawaiâi and relocation to California informs the artistâs material selectionsâshell necklaces, river rocks, towels, sand, keys, mochi from Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, Sanrio stickers, Laker memorabilia and good luck charms are mediums Ono deftly adapts as signifiers of remembrance. Onoâs sculptures are inspired by the deep sea and her grandmother's eclectic handmade shrines, which included treasures such as mochi, ribbon leis and candies. Materials for sculpting are procured through a process of interrogating place and memory. Untitled (2306) is composed of shells from her grandmotherâs house alongside hand-built shell replicas and white satin ribbons, evoking the semblance of a human spine. Within the sculpture lies a small heart-shaped charm, reminiscent of one gifted by her grandmother.
Kaeru means âfrogâ and âto return'' in Japanese. It embodies the cultural symbolism associated with luck and nostalgia, themes inspired by Onoâs grandmother's penchant for collecting frog figurines and adorning her home with them. Furthering this, Ono confronts aspects of temporal erasure with her expansive view on objects as invitations that transcend historical remembrance. Raised with Buddhist and Japanese American practices woven into familial funeral rituals, Ono incorporates these traditional tributes and ceremonial rites into this body of work.
The impulse for Kaeru is located in honoring, preserving, and reinterpreting. Thereâs an alchemy in the memorialization of everyday objects as they become offerings and an intimacy that is revealed through the labor that is exerted into creating them. The psychological weight of these items share an origin story through their material bodies. The artwork Untitled (2404) expresses independence and travel. A strand of luggage keys is mounted underneath a densely layered weaving in sterling silver wireâa sort of armor inspired by chain link fencing, and a reverential and metaphorical offering to the artistâs grandmother. In Untitled (2401), Ono has constructed a wall-mounted sculpture consisting of layers of bath towels, fabrics, shells, pearls, plastic bags, resin and mochi, veiled in washes of darkly hued dyes, resembling archeology or a tome, a repository for memory. The specificity of materiality amplifies the inherent duality in both utility and significanceâa towel absorbs, cleans, comforts, and is used for self care. Onoâs sculptures merge a celebration of life and contemplation of mortality, joy and mourning, and the internal and external experience of love and loss.
Sandra Ono (lives and works in Berkeley, CA) received her MFA from Mills College, following undergraduate studies at UC Davis and Imperial College, London. Ono's work has been exhibited at San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA; Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA; Et al, San Francisco, CA; Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA; Personal Space, Vallejo, CA; Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA; St. Josephâs Arts Foundation, San Francisco, CA; Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA; Transmitter, Brooklyn, NY; Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA; among others.