What can you say of an artist, who declares on her website “I use colors as three-dimensional elements, like layers, in order to create spaces, not as a finishing touch applied to surfaces?” Certainly, an out-of-the-box thinker. Meet Emmanuella Moureaux, a French architect, who resides in Tokyo, Japan.
It’s quite evident from Moureaux’s works that Japan has had a deep influence on her art. The layers and colors of Tokyo witnessed on its street, the Japanese traditional sliding screens and other spatial elements, act as her inspiration. This led her to the concept of shikiri, meaning ‘dividing or creating space with colors’. So, it was only natural that she established ‘Emmanuelle Moureaux architecture + design’ in Tokyo.
Moureaux uses colors as 3D elements to create spaces. This is starkly different from using them as merely surface applicants. This unique approach helps her to infuse emotions in her creations, whether its art, design or architecture. Her creations in vibrant colors brought her to the notice of many big players.
Sugamo Shinkin Bank commissioned Moureaux for ‘100 colors’ art installation series. Spurred with its success, she now plans to exhibit ‘100 colors’ in different cities around the globe. She also did installations for UNIQLO and ISSEY MIYAKE and space design for ABC Cooking Studio.
Not only this, for the 10th Anniversary exhibition of The National Art Center, Tokyo, she created a large installation titled, ‘Forest of Numbers’. For New Taipei City Government in Taiwan, she is providing artistic design for the 14-kilometer section of its Mass Rapid Transit ‘Circular Line’. Her other works include an installation with 140,000 Hiraganas, the simplest written Japanese alphabet; coloring auditorium seats of one of the Japanese cities with 1000 different hues, and many more.
Moureaux is an associate professor at Tohoku University of Art and Design, where she loves to challenge the artistic abilities of her students by asking them to create a 100-color palette of an item from their daily lives, such as umbrella, watches, chocolates, glasses, bubble foam and the like.
Moureaux is a member of the ‘Tokyo Society of Architects’, the ‘Architectural Institute of Japan’ and the ‘Japan Institute of Architects’.
Emmanuelle Moureaux: Website | Facebook | Instagram
