Positive Vibration

Niho Kozuru's sculptures glow with an optimistic vitality that is tangible. Comprised of curvilinear shapes in saturated, candy hues, her rubber reliefs are an exploration of pattern, color, and shape. Mono-cast with hand-mixed rubber in custom blends of color, Kozuru's recent work utilizes the practice and techniques of her three-dimensional forms to construct two-dimensional works.

Kozuru grew up in Japan, the fifth generation in a family of sculptors and ceramists. Her artistic sensibilities are informed by Japanese aesthetics. For this exhibition, her patterns draw inspiration from traditional kimono designs.

Her compositions develop from unique arrangements of oval and gear-shaped pieces from her free-standing sculptures. Using them as placeholders for negative space, she pours new forms around their silhouettes. The resulting configurations seem in perpetual motion: background and foreground are interchangeable, lines tremble and shift. This visual oscillation gives the work a feeling of vibration, filling the space with luminous color and energy.

Niho Kozuru was born in Fukuoka, Japan, and currently lives and works in Boston, MA. She received her BFA from the Parsons School of Design in New York, NY, and her MFA from University of Hawaii, Honolulu. She has shown at galleries and museums in both the United States and Japan, including the current exhibition, Plastic Imagination, at the Fitchburg Art Museum in Fitchburg, MA, and past exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, MA, and the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art in Sapporo, Japan. She has been awarded numerous grants and fellowships, including the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship. Her work has been included in a number of corporate and museum collections. This will be her first solo exhibition at Miller Yezerski Gallery.