Somewhere…

Tappeto Volante is pleased to present Somewhere…, a solo exhibition of new ceramic sculptures by New York–based artist Keiko Narahashi. This marks Narahashi’s second presentation at the gallery and brings together a striking new body of work that blurs the boundaries between sculpture and installation. Positioned on an elevated platform that extends across the floor and up the wall, the works unfold against a pale gray backdrop—staging a quietly dramatic terrain where forms appear to move in secret alignment, tethered by a nearly invisible geometry. The exhibition draws its title from the enduring cultural motif of longing and imagined escape, as evoked in iconic songs like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz and “Somewhere (There’s a Place for Us)” from West Side Story. Narahashi channels this sense of in-betweenness through her sculptural language, shaped by the experience of navigating multiple cultural and geographic identities. Her works exist in a state of suspension—poised between transformation and belonging—infused with a quiet, persistent sense of yearning. The formal language of Minimalism—flat planes, geometric restraint, and objecthood—is present throughout the exhibition, but softened and animated by narrative and emotional depth. Narahashi’s sculptures appear to perform rather than simply exist: leaning, stretching, and teetering in careful proximity. Their theatrical arrangement emphasizes the relationship between body and environment, and how memory and imagination are shaped through material space. Recalling the delicate balance and performative intimacy of Alexander Calder’s Cirque Calder, Narahashi’s installation conjures a sense of intimate drama. The central platform offers a stage-like point of view, inviting the viewer into a composed scene. Unlike traditional theater, the audience is free to walk alongside the stage. As one moves around it, hidden structures and supports reveal the quiet engineering behind the poise. What seems flat gains depth; the backs of the works, glazed in deep matte black, stand in stark contrast to the vibrant chromatic surfaces that face forward. This passage from “somewhere” to “elsewhere” suggests a poetic shift—from color, dream, and lightness to a more grounded, structural reality. Narahashi’s process begins with drawing directly into slabs of clay, treating the material as a cut-out sketchbook. She constructs hybrid forms that occupy a space between vessel and picture plane. Surfaces are activated through layered glazing and repeated firings, creating painterly effects that oscillate between intention and chance. Her forms suggest silhouettes, portals, or fractured landscapes, always hovering just outside of legibility. A tension between abstraction and representation threads through the work, grounding it in both formal precision and emotional resonance. Ultimately, Somewhere… becomes a meditation on longing—both personal and collective. In a world shaped by displacement, transition, and the search for belonging, Narahashi’s sculptures hold space for fragility and hope. Through form, surface, and gesture, they trace the contours of what it means to imagine another place—and the quiet courage it takes to believe it might exist. Keiko Narahashi creates clay sculptures rooted in the belief that forms carry emotional and psychological significance. Her shapes oscillate between the human and the nonhuman, figure and landscape, evoking the ambiguities found in memory and daydream. Her ongoing exploration of the transformation between two and three dimensions began in childhood, when she watched a tin can being flattened by a passing train. Although she works primarily in sculpture, Narahashi often thinks in terms of the picture plane, approaching form with a painter’s sensibility. She builds mainly with clay slabs, drawing cut-lines directly onto the surface so that the drawing becomes integral to the sculpture itself. Many of her works possess a frontal quality, deliberately referencing traditional modes of presentation found in paintings and photographs—such as tabletop picture frames. Scale plays a key role: vastness is often suggested within the intimacy of these miniature worlds. She received a BFA from Parsons School of Design (1988) and an MFA in Painting from Bard College (1999). Her recent exhibitions include Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery (New York), Flinn Gallery (Greenwich, CT), Tappeto Volante Projects (Brooklyn), 106 Green (New York), Jason McCoy Gallery (New York), Carvalho Park (Brooklyn), Jack Hanley Gallery (New York), Underdonk Gallery (Brooklyn), Usdan Gallery at Bennington College, and the Rosenberg Gallery at Hofstra University, among others. Narahashi was awarded a studio grant from the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation (2005) and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Painting (2006). Her work has been reviewed in The New Yorker, Vogue, The Brooklyn Rail, and The New York Times. She was also recently featured in New York Studio Conversations, Part II, edited by Stephanie Buhmann (The Green Box, Berlin).

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