Despite her beginning as one of the major yet underlooked figures of American minimalism, Japanese-born Kazuko Miyamoto has proven her eclecticism and debt to the New York scene over a fifty-year long career. Museo Madre in Naples currently presents the first historical overview of the artist in a European institution. Curated by the museum’s director Eva Fabbris, the exhibition heavily features Miyamoto’s iconic string constructions from the 1970s; these are compositions of yarn stretched over nails the artist sets up on the walls following precise instructions, producing abstract arrangements that occasionally overflow onto the floor. The exhibition also includes sketches and recent maquettes: artworks in their own right that provide important insights into the artist’s earlier visual research. A true adopted New Yorker, Miyamoto often combined the algorithmic and formalistic lessons of minimalism with more socially grounded work in the city, despite there being no sign of militantism per se in her artworks. She was an active member of one of New York’s most important project spaces, A.I.R., and founded her own in the 1980s, Gallery Onetwentyeight, after leaving A.I.R. along with her close friend Ana Mendieta. At Madre, the exhibition recalls this social aspect of the artist’s career, whilst giving glimpses of her later works: from 1980s Land Art-inspired paper bridges installed outdoors, to performative clothes and textile pieces often imbued with references to her native Japan.
