Gilded Boat Series — Keiko Miyamori

GILDED BOAT SERIES I, II & III

2007, 2008, 2011

I: GATE, BOAT & LIGHT

2007

The first iteration of Keiko Miyamori’s Boat series made in 2007. Using a gold-leaf cover on the inside of the boat, Miyamori explored the reflection of the light through the resin tip, glowing within a dark warehouse.

Perpendicular to the boat lies an old Chinese gate, ajar. A merging of cultures, Miyamori uses the light and its refraction through the resin, to bridge between the Chinese gate and the old American canoe.

*Detail of Resin Tip on Gate, Boat, and Light*

Detail of Chinese Gate — Detail of *Chinese Gate*

Detail of Gate, Boat, and Light   2007   Chinese Gate, Canoe, Gold Leaf, Clear Resin, Wire, Lights — *Detail of Gate, Boat, and Light* 2007 Chinese Gate, Canoe, Gold Leaf, Clear Resin, Wire, Lights

II. TIPPED BOAT ON WARM PEDESTAL

2008

In 2008, Miyamori re-wrapped her large wooden canoe with new tree rubbings, creating a new skin, in preparation for the group show Perspectives at the Ice Box Project Space in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The new boat would come to represent humans in its existence alongside nature. Her first boat, Gate, Boat, and Light, used the boat to understand the dichotomy between culture and humanity, whereas this iteration was precariously tipped and hung with wire upon a fur pedestal.
Originally proposed as Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, and Synthetic, Miyamori wanted to represent life in its many forms. The man-made boat is made of natural materials, wrapped in Washi, Japanese paper made of bark fibre, sitting on an animal fur pedestal with the boats resin hull.

Using nature, the man-made boat represents the symbiotic relationship between the two, but the angle of the boat hangs in a way that the balance can easily be turned. Over time, humans have taken more from this relationship with nature, thus impeding upon the animals and other life on the Earth. If the boat angles more as it tips, the first to fall are the humans within. Miyamori allows us to visualise how delicate the relationship stands, with the continuing aggression and avarice of humans represented within the vibrance of the gilded interior.

Detail of Tipped Boat on Warm Pedestal — Detail of *Tipped Boat on Warm Pedestal*

III. BIRD CAGE & GILDED BOAT

2011

(Above) Amasia 2011 Canoe, Resin, Washi, Charcoal, Goldleaf, Wire 204 x 34 x 18 in. in exhibition Bird Cage and Gilded Boat

In 2011, Miyamori received a grant to travel to five different contients, to create rubbings for her new exhibition, Bird Cage and Gilded Boat at the ISE Foundation in New York. Her wooden canoe from her 2007 and 2008 shows, Gate, Boat, and Light and Perspectives, respectively, was rewrapped with the new rubbings alongside her washi covered birdcages, and intercontinental tree rubbings.
Amasia is known as the hypothesized theory of all continents drifting together in the future, to create a singular landmass. Miyamori’s vision of Amasia was uniting the five continents on her gilded boat to show the underlying similarities between all humans. Though Amasia is the physical connection of land, Miyamori’s Amasia is the connection between humans underneath their superficialities

BIRD CAGE WITHOUT ROOF

Bird Cage WIthout Roof is a series of six bird cages exhibited in 2011 during Bird Cages and Gilded Boat at the ISE Cultural Foundation. The sculptures are varying sizes of birdcages wrapped in Washi with charcoal tree rubbings, supported by a base of resin embedded with different regional grains and seeds. Each Bird Cage has rubbings based on different travels of Miyamori’s past, with the corresponding grain, seed, or dried flower, within its base. The cages were made without a roof, in order to allow the birds to come and go freely as they please.

Bird Cage Without Roof #4     2009 Birdcage, Resin, Washi, Charcoal, Grain 11 ½ x 8 ½  x 13 ½ in. — *Bird Cage Without Roof #4* 2009
Birdcage, Resin, Washi, Charcoal, Grain
11 ½ x 8 ½ x 13 ½ in.