Artist
Yukinori Yanagi
(Fukuoka, Japan, 5/2/1959 - )
Title
Loves Me, Loves Me Not
Creation Date
1997
Century
late 20th century
Dimensions
144 x 96 in. (365.76 x 243.84 cm)
Object Type
installation
Creation Place
Asia, Japan
Medium and Support
wool carpet and brass "petals" on jute backing
Credit Line
Archival Collection of Marion Boulton Stroud and Acadia Summer Arts Program, Mt. Desert Island, Maine. Gift from the Marion Boulton "Kippy" Stroud Foundation
Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s
Copyright Terms and Conditions.
Accession Number
2018.10.430
Visible in the center of Yanagi Yukinori’s Loves Me, Loves Me Not, a large wool carpet, is a deep impression of a sixteen-petaled chrysanthemum, its petals missing but for a single brass one hanging from the central disk. Others lie scattered across the rug, each accompanied by black lettering that reads either “s/he loves me” or “s/he loves me not.” The inscriptions are written in Japanese and the ten Asian languages spoken in Japan’s former colonies (Khmer, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian/ Malay, Korean, Chinese, Lao, Tagalog, Tamil, Burmese), with two more drawn from Japan’s “internal” colonies of indigenous people (Ainu, Shuri). The carpet’s color scheme invokes the felicitous red-white pairing used in Japanese ceremonies and the national flag. Yet, a carpet invites you to step or sit on it, giving viewers the opportunity to regard anew the hallowed Japanese chrysanthemum. Ideologically, this work participates in the national conversations that began in Japan in 1995 regarding the long shadow of wartime ideology and the meanings of community and national identity.
Vijayanthi R. Selinger
Associate Professor of Asian Studies Bowdoin College
Object Description
Made in collaboration with the FWM
-----------------
From: Nao Kimura
Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 11:28 PM
To: Joachim Homann
Cc: "info@yanagistudio.net" , "Laura J. Latman"
Subject: Re: Loves Me/ Loves Me Not at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art
Dear Mr. Homann,
Thank you for contacting YANAGI STUDIO. My name is Nao Kimura writing on behalf of the artist. I apologize for the delay in responding.
Like you mentioned, Loves Me / Loves Me Not is single-sided and it is entirely separate work from Chrysanthemum Carpet. Compare to Chrysanthemum Carpet ( about 640.0?1200.0cm) , Loves me / Loves Me Not is much smaller - measuring about 240?360cm.
This work can be installed both on the wall and on the floor.
Installation view of Loves Me / Loves Me Not. http://www.yanagistudio.net/works/chrysanthemumcarpet02_view_eng.html
I hope this helps. Please let us know if you need further information.
Sincerely,
Nao Kimura
YANAGI STUDIO
+81-848-73-5105
www.yanagistudio.net
artbasemomoshima.jp
---------------------------------------
2018-08-08 2:19 GMT+09:00 jhomann@bowdoin.edu :
Greetings from the Bowdoin College Museum of Art!
We are very pleased about the recent donation of your carpet “Loves Me/ Loves Me Not” to the Museum. The estate of Kippy Stroud made this collaborative work from the Fabric Workshop available to us.
We are planning to include this object in our forthcoming catalogue “Art Purposes: Object Lessons for the Liberal Arts” and include it in a reinstallation of our collection next year. Do you happen to have additional materials and installation photographs of the work available that you might be able to share with us? Am I right that the work is not “double-sided” in contrast to the Chrysanthemum Carpet, which has the quotes in the back? Was this decision based on practicality or conceptually driven?
Thanks so much for your advice. We truly appreciate having this wonderful work here in Maine,
Joachim Homann
--
Joachim Homann, Ph.D.
Curator
Bowdoin College Museum of Art
207-725-3064
jhomann@bowdoin.edu
