Natsuko Hattori

Natsuko Hattori

June 18 - September 5, 2014

Open Hours:
Monday - Friday, 8 am - 7 pm

Reception for the Artist: 
Thursday, June 26, 6 - 8 pm

Lobby Gallery
1155 Avenue of the Americas
(between 44th and 45th)

The soft, comforting sculptures of Natsuko Hattori had their genesis in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of 2011.  Faced with unimaginable loss in her home country, she wanted to find a way to comfort those who survived and remember those who were lost.  The artist perceives the gesture of wrapping each ball of fabric as an act of transformation; converting pain and sadness into comfort.

Mocomoco  (もこもこ) is a Japanese word that refers to a soft or puffy surface and the comforting feelings that one might get from holding a toy stuffed animal, or being wrapped up in a down coat.  All of the works in this series are made from recycled clothing, so the materials, now wrapped around themselves, were once wrapped around a person.  With this in mind, it may be possible to imagine that some essence from all those people may still remain as a sort of echo in these layers that they no longer wear.  When placed together, these individual meditations on comfort become communities within which subtle differences come forth, or the counterpoint that the “odd individual” creates increases the beauty of the whole.

In the case of “Forever,” the most recent work in this series, instead of bringing together fabric from many sources, the artist used only clothing that her recently deceased grandmother owned; basing the overall form on her grandmother’s favorite flowering tree.

Natsuko Hattori graduated from the University of Tsukuba, Art and Design, and moved to New York in 2010.  Her work has appeared in many exhibits, and received awards, in Japan and NYC.

Sales and information:
Janusz Jaworski, curator
212-391-8151 x 26
janusz@chashama.org