Johansson Projects presents Fractured Fauna, a new series by Misako Inaoka, in which hybrid creatures opt to be upholstered instead of taxidermied.

Inaoka’s newest sculptures depict a herd of ever-ambiguous creatures locked in an eternal state of transformation. Two headed dogs and headless deer are two animals in the clan, each adorned with decorative skins resembling an antique couch or perhaps a disco ball.

In this series, Inaoka continues her exploration of the wilderness, the home, and the space where these two intersect. The artist offers up an alternative scientific theory through her sculptures, in which our influence over the natural world doesn’t lead to endangerment or extinction, but rather an uncanny remodeling of mother nature’s handiwork.

In Inaoka’s topsy turvy world, where natural patterns and artistically rendered motifs are nearly impossible to distinguish, human influence is less of a threat, more of an opportunity for redesign. Yet few man-made ornaments can compete with the odd beauty and unnerving grace of a deer’s sinuous spine, curving downward, leading nowhere.

Misako Inaoka, born in Kyoto, Japan, had received her BFA in printmaking in 2001 from RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) and her MFA in 2006 from Mills College. From 1999-2000, Inaoka spent a year in Rome, Italy, as a part of EHP (European Honors Program). In addition to solo and group shows at Johansson Projects, her work has been shown at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, de Young Museum, de Saisset Museum, San Jose ICA, and galleries in New York, Japan, England, China, and Italy. She is a recipient of the Irvine Fellowship for Montalvo residency, National Endowment of Arts for MacDowell Colony residency, and has been an artist in residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts, de Young Museum, and Vermont Studio Center.

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