Rendered Rooms: Hotel rooms drawn on location by measuring
On view:  March 14–April 6, 2013
Reception:  Saturday, March 16, 5-7 PM
Gallery hours:  Th/F, 1-6 PM;  S/Su, 12-5pm

Cambridge, MA–Gallery 263 is pleased to present Rendered Rooms, the first solo exhibition of Massachusetts artist Mike Yoshiaki Daikubara, featuring his series of 80+ drawings of hotel rooms.

Picture this scene from the film Mystery Train (1989). A young couple checks into a Memphis hotel and the guy starts taking pictures of the room:

Girl:  Why do you only take pictures of the rooms we stay in and never what we see outside while we travel?
Guy:  Those other things are in my memory.  The hotel rooms and the airports are the things I’ll forget.

For Daikubara, this scene rang true.

By profession, Daikubara is an Industrial Designer.   His job has taken him on the road all over the world.  Since 2000, Daikubara had been sketching at airports.  After watching Mystery Train in 2006, he began to draw the hotel rooms as well.  First the drawings were from observation.  Then Daikubara started to carry measuring tools to capture the spaces with precision.  All rooms are drawn on location on the hotel’s letterhead.  In 2012, Daikubara self published a book of the drawings.

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“Now 8 years and 80+ hotel rooms later, I can vividly remember all the details about each trip.  Each room tells stories about the hotel, the country, the culture and I hope to share those stories with everyone.”

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Gabriel Campanario, founder of Urban Sketchers, reviewed the book: “Get ready to check-in into Mike Daikubara's delightful world of sketched hotel rooms.  With his meticulous pen and ink renditions of every hotel room…Daikubara makes even the most non-descriptive quarters feel interesting…  He goes as far as depicting the rooms in striking bird's-eye perspective, carefully including details such as bathroom tiles, wall decorations and even the refreshments inside the fridge.”

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Rendered Rooms was selected for Gallery 263’s Curatorial Proposal Series, an exhibition program that provides the opportunity to experiment with the organization and presentation of contemporary art.  The 2013 Curatorial Proposal Series is sponsored by the Cambridge Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.