Buckle up, we are taking you to The Cabin! JPS Gallery is proud to announce that Fabio Viscogliosi and Richard Woods have joined forces for a thrilling duo solo exhibition at our Tokyo gallery space, bringing a unique blend of creativity and ingenuity to their muse, the cabin. Woods will showcase his impressive architectural installations, including a playful and exaggerated cartoon version of a three-meter-tall cabin. Viscogliosi, a masterful visual storyteller, has carefully crafted a series of paintings reminiscent of a cinematic storyboard in his distinctly flat and comic-inspired painting style to depict the captivating stories that transpired within that cabin.
Upon arrival, you will see Woods’s striking installation of a three-meter tall cabin in cadmium red with a pastel blue front door and thick black outlines. Designed to look like a traditional British bungalow, Woods’s installation is a compelling commentary on today’s housing crisis, gentrification and the proliferation of multiple-home ownership. By incorporating his iconic cartoon style into building structures, Woods satirises the notion of owning a house as an unattainable, fictitious concept. With no real windows, no glass or an accessible front door, the cabin exists in a dreamlike state that gives viewers no reason to believe they could live in it.
On the contrary, what ‘the cabin’ brought to Viscogliosi’s mind was how it was a modest object reminiscent of the sketch and the work of the skilled handyman. Similar to building a cabin where one must balance design and functionality, Viscogliosi’s paintings are simultaneously metaphorical and concrete as he intentionally leaves enough room for viewers to imagine what happens before and after the captured moment. His strongly cinematographic character is often portrayed amid an act, whether it be listening to music or standing in an ordinary room described by the artist as “a box pierced with doors, windows and glass roof,” he is seemingly unaware of the viewer’s prying gaze. One cannot help but wonder, what music is the character listening to? Where do those doors lead to? Could that be the front door of Woods’ fictitious cabin?
Displayed alongside Viscogliosi’s paintings are some of Woods’s window artwork that puts a humorous twist on the current state of society through lurid colour and graphic lines. Woods’s cartoon-like depictions of the windows remain detached from reality, with no indication of what lies beyond them. Whilst Viscogliosi’s paintings may not resemble the typical window, they provide a level of transparency and openness that Woods intentionally avoids.
What is traditionally considered an unsophisticated structure, Woods transforms ‘the cabin’ into an architectural signifier of gentrification whilst Viscogliosi presents it as a space for soul-stirring tales to be shared. Together, the larger-than-life installations by Woods and Viscogliosi’s introspective paintings create a dynamic visual dialogue that underscores the importance of interdisciplinary interaction, where the fusion of two distinct artistic styles can amplify one another.
