Artist profile
Naomi Reis’s work investigates liminal spaces at the intersection of architecture and natural environments. Her recent work reconfigures photographic imagery into dimensional paintings and installations that balance between pictorial space and abstract composition. Translated into humble materials like paper, glue, paint and mylar, these “landscapes” are sometimes camouflaged by printed wallpaper, or appear as a flattened garden in a window facade. Reis received an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Transcultural Identity from Hamilton College; as a founding member of the artist-run gallery Tiger Strikes Asteroid NY, she also works on curatorial projects and related programming. Born in Shiga, Japan, Reis lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Residency plan
At Youkobo Art Space, Reis will use the surrounding landscape as subject matter to make a series of mixed-media paintings and an immersive installation. Rather than taking inspiration from a Kantian natural sublime, the paintings will recreate vernacular urban scenes found in the residential edges of Tokyo, Kyoto, or New York (ivy growing on a concrete wall; weeds pushing through asphalt). The works argue for the importance of what philosopher Yuriko Saito calls “everyday aesthetics: aesthetics of objects, environments, and situations from our everyday life.” Taking the paintings a step further, Reis will construct an immersive interpretation of the garden through photographic imagery, printed fabric and video footage, creating an abstract space for contemplation.

Date	2016.12.01 - 2017.01.31
Place	AIR-3
Website	http://naomireis.com/