PORTFOLIO

JUNK MAIL WEAVINGS
"...restrained abstractions composed of woven strips of shredded advertisements... Hashimoto’s weavings were especially strong, for instance a surrealist abstraction whose title helps us identify its source in a shredded catalogue photo of Kate Moss." Kirsten Swenson, Art in America, April 2008 more >

 

RED CREDIT
Works made from credit card junk mail solicitations. more >

THE JUNK MAIL EXPERIMENT
Hashimoto begins collecting the junk mail that is delivered to her studio on June 1, 2007. She incorporates the daily hand shredding of this material into her studio practice. In one month she has a pile reminiscent of a Monet haystack. In three months it engulfs the concert grand piano in her studio. The pile continues to grow. more >

 

PINK TATAMI
The idea for PINK TATAMI first came to me after I had spent the entire day cleaning the twenty four tatami in an old uninhabited wooden home in Tokyo. I pulled the tatami up out of the sunken floor into which they fit so snugly and piled them inside the room that was soon to be my new home and studio. I had never seen the underbelly of tatami before, nor the guts of a traditional Japanese-style room left exposed by their removal. It was a beautiful, vulnerable image. more >

 

QUEENS / QUEANS
The genesis of this series occurred through the artist’s examination of Nana, the main character in the novel by Emile Zola of the same name. This research-based work addresses cross-cultural identity, sexuality and prostitution, incorporating references to Zola's preliminary notes on the character and various visual appropriations. more>

 

TABULAE RASAE
In Return to Tabulae Rasae, Part Two of Barbara Hashimoto's solo show at Xiem Gallery, this critically acclaimed LA-based artist presents a new body of work. Hashimoto's 15-year exploration of the book form evolved - through sculpture, performance and installation, from the initial censoring, binding, incineration and final cracking open of fired ceramic books, to evocative constructions of neo-narrative ceramic tablets. more>

 

EVERY MAN WAS HER SLAVE
Barbara Hashimoto’s recent exhibition at Ruth Bachofner Gallery explores time and process. more>

SATI SERIES
Sati is a charged topic. In Sanskrit, the feminine noun translates as "a good woman, a true wife", and when applied to a widow, means "a woman who sacrifices herself on the funeral pyre for the love of her husband." more>

TOKYO BAY PROJECT
Sponsored by the Maki Gallery in Tokyo, Hashimoto participated in this outdoor sculpture exhibition situated on a natural beach area at the mouth of Tokyo Bay on the Pacific Ocean.  Grounded in an ethos that focuses on interrelationships, Hashimoto drew upon the cross-cultural, political, and historical aspects of this site while building an installation incorporating the historic architecture and natural plant materials at the location.  more>

 

MORAL STORIES
Based on her work, it could be said that Barbara Hashimoto likes loose ends. Such a statement seems in direct opposition with one of her chosen subject matters—moral stories. Moral stories are generally tidy, with a clear resolution and defined parameters indicating right from wrong. These narratives—like the popular Greek AESOP’s Fables—are used to teach and entertain. more>

 

SELECTED CERAMIC WORK