ENG
Schoko Tanaka presents the artistic project she has developed over the past months during her residency at B-Murals, “Cuando la vida te da un limón y una manzana” - When life gives you a lemon and an apple”
Schoko Tanaka’s artistic work is marked by the influence of Mexican muralism and the delicacy of embroidery, combining two gestures that at first glance seem opposed: the monumentality of the mural and the intimacy of textile work. In her pieces, color, texture and symbol coexist to create a personal and deeply intimate language, in a universe where fauna and flora occupy a central place.
With the title of the exhibition, Tanaka refers to the expression “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”: the lemon, associated with acidity, is mixed here with the apple, a symbol of sweetness.
For the artist, the lemon and the apple represent contrasts. But they also symbolize coexistence—the simultaneity of contradictions that live within each person. These contradictions shift over time: sometimes they float, sink or disappear, yet they need each other in order to find balance.
During her stay at B-Murals these fruits became a metaphor for her life processes; for the cultural differences between Spain and Japan, and for the basic needs that sustain everyday happiness: a home where one feels comfortable, fulfillment through artistic creation, the warmth of human connections...
Two recurring figures stand out in Tanaka’s work: the horse, linked to her family heritage and bearer of strength, freedom, resilience and determination; and the snake, a symbol of transformation and vital energy. These animals appear throughout her work as narrative axes and translators of her emotions.
Schoko Tanaka’s work moves between the monumental and the intimate, between the power of flat color and the subtlety of thread: between the sweet and the bitter. It is a dialogue on identity, change, and the fragile, constant and ever-shifting balances that sustain us. The pieces created during the residency are deeply personal works in which fruits, flat colors, the delicacy of embroidery and fauna—elements so characteristic of Schoko’s practice—serve as engines for both personal and universal reflection on who we are.
B-Murals hosts the Japanese artist Schoko Tanaka in its residency program from September 15 to December 15.
