In 2020, during the pandemic, artists Audrey Fondecave and Masanao Hirayama began communicating through a game carried by post back and forth through a subdued city.
As an art student in France, Audrey was fascinated by the Surrealist game called Exquisite Corpse and decided to revive it years later. Exquisite Corpse is usually played by several participants — the first participant draws a picture on the edge of a long sheet of paper, folds the paper to hide the drawing, and hands it to the next participant to continue. When everyone has finished, the drawing is complete, and the paper is unfolded to reveal the whole picture.
Audrey felt that Masanao Hirayama would be the perfect playmate to add a fun interpretation to this intuitive and fast-paced creation. Unable to meet face to face, the two began playing unusually, by exchanging partly concealed works in envelopes. The result was an entirely different rendering of Exquisite Corpse – individual drawings became entwined, integrating the artists’ personalities in a multiplicity of ways depending on who began the work and how much they added to it.
As Audrey recalls, 'Finding Masanao’s envelope in the mailbox always felt like a treat during a year that resembled a continuous lockdown.' Even in depressing times, or perhaps because of it, their envelopes seem to be filled with humour and joy.
Editions OK Fred (TOO MUCH) have gathered together pieces from the yearlong exchange and compiled them in a book. A contemporary version of Exquisite Corpse, 101 to 101 transports you directly into the playful world of two artists, each inhabiting apartment number 101 in Setagaya and Shibuya wards.
42 pages, 18.2 x 25.7 cm, softcover, Editions OK Fred (Tokyo).
As an art student in France, Audrey was fascinated by the Surrealist game called Exquisite Corpse and decided to revive it years later. Exquisite Corpse is usually played by several participants — the first participant draws a picture on the edge of a long sheet of paper, folds the paper to hide the drawing, and hands it to the next participant to continue. When everyone has finished, the drawing is complete, and the paper is unfolded to reveal the whole picture.
Audrey felt that Masanao Hirayama would be the perfect playmate to add a fun interpretation to this intuitive and fast-paced creation. Unable to meet face to face, the two began playing unusually, by exchanging partly concealed works in envelopes. The result was an entirely different rendering of Exquisite Corpse – individual drawings became entwined, integrating the artists’ personalities in a multiplicity of ways depending on who began the work and how much they added to it.
As Audrey recalls, 'Finding Masanao’s envelope in the mailbox always felt like a treat during a year that resembled a continuous lockdown.' Even in depressing times, or perhaps because of it, their envelopes seem to be filled with humour and joy.
Editions OK Fred (TOO MUCH) have gathered together pieces from the yearlong exchange and compiled them in a book. A contemporary version of Exquisite Corpse, 101 to 101 transports you directly into the playful world of two artists, each inhabiting apartment number 101 in Setagaya and Shibuya wards.
42 pages, 18.2 x 25.7 cm, softcover, Editions OK Fred (Tokyo).