

Client: Up link Gallery
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Completion date: 2013
Artwork budget: $500
Project Team
Artist
Mariko Yoshihashi
Other
Manabu Yoshihashi
Overview
For a woman, lipstick symbolises the pursuit of beauty and is an instrument of the finest sensibility. As a practical object, lipstick can be enjoyed not only visually through this lustre but also by touch, by its weight and its feel in the hand. These ceramics, based on an object experienced through the sense of touch and now arrayed as multiples lining the wall surface, enter into and unite with the space. Perceiving lipstick not as providing decoration but as an object which is used as decoration in itself may well subvert one’s view of lipstick.
Goals
Shibuya is a town in Tokyo, where the exhibition was held. This is mainly a place where young people gather, and fashion and cosmetics are an important part of their lives - especially younger people in their teens and early twenties. I wanted to represent the exciting aspects of this town and to try and capture the young people's feelings, whilst also making a work that would appeal to them, and that they could relate to.
Process
There was close communication between the exhibition coordinator, and myself, as the artist.
Additional Information
I designed and made cups whose handles took shape of lipsticks. Also I proposed to serve dessert and cocktail which were associated with lipsticks.The project was well-received by the young people in the area, both in the restaurant where the exhibition was held, and by a wedding party that was held there.