Two years ago at a storage facility in an undisclosed location somewhere in Japan, Yuko Mohri was allowed a rare peek at the underside of Constantin Brancusi’s “The Kiss.” Later, she bent over to get a better look at the watercolor gradient in Francis Picabia’s “Animation.” Her task was to choose from the nearly 3,000 artworks belonging to the Ishibashi Foundation, which began from the private collection of Bridgestone founder Shojiro Ishibashi, and to put them in dialogue with her own work for a new exhibition. There were Picassos, Longquan ware, an O'Keeffe to consider, but the ostensibly illustrious job had its challenges.
Because this isn’t how Mohri operates. Nothing about the artist is conducive to conservation or preservation. As soon as she sets her works into motion, they began to move away from her, shifting, breaking down and renewing.
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