"Bloom" by Kanako Abe

Rare Device is pleased to announce our latest gallery exhibition Bloom, featuring hand-cut paper art by Kanako Abe. Bloom features a series of hand-cut paper portraits about transformation inspired by flora and fauna. The way plants quietly thrive and bloom, healing and empowering in a way that helps us face life's challenges ultimately tells a story about transience, vulnerability, and strength. 

Join Kanako and the Rare Device staff on Friday evening, August 2nd at Rare Device Flagship at 600 Divisadero Street from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. for the opening reception. The show will be on display from Friday, August 2, 2019, through Monday, September 16, 2019.

About the Artist:

Kanako Abe is a Kiri-e artist based in San Francisco, California, originally from Sendai, Japan. Kiri-e means the art of paper-cutting in Japanese. Kanako’s paper-cut art is entirely hand-cut from a single sheet of paper with a precision knife, which requires a great deal of concentration and many hours to create.

For Kanako, creating Kiri-e art is a way of meditating on everyday thoughts, emotions, and interconnectivity of nature and the universe. Through her delicate visual poetry, she tries to tell stories about the beauty found in fragility and transience and explore the correlation between vulnerability and strength.