Exhibition/event has ended.
Yusuke Yamatani “KAIKOO”
Yuka Tsuruno Gallery
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Yusuke Yamatani
Yuka Tsuruno Gallery is pleased to present Yusuke Yamatani’s solo exhibition, KAIKOO from October 16th to November 13th, 2021. In this exhibition he presents photographic and sculptural works that emerged from an encounter with physical materials such as dirt and concrete, and from uncovering the history of the land, the buildings, and the traces of former inhabitants during the demolition and renovation work of an old house in Yokosuka.
With his early series “Tsugi no yoru e” and “ground,” Yamatani approached the photographic medium from various standpoints, presenting works that evoke an awareness of the distances, desires, and passions that exist in the liminal spaces between contemporary society and the individual. With “Into the Light” he attempts to expand the scope of the act of taking photos by using an infrared camera to take pictures of the suburbs at night. In his previous work “Doors” he conjured the subconscious under photography and the complexity of the gaze by creating a performance of the process leading to the production of an image. He constructed a special apparatus that captured his own performance on the drums and immediately printed the images on site, filling the physical space with self portraits.
These performative developments in Yamatani’s photographic expression is rooted in a boundless interest in and the challenge of photography as a medium that purports to captures reality as it is. At the same time, they are linked to a discomfort with the unilaterality of an event or subject becoming fixed in an image by the intent of the photographer. While his interest in the confrontation between photography and reality deepens, and society undergoes significant changes due to the pandemic, Yamatani began renovating an 82-year-old three-part single story house in Yokosuka into a home and studio. Bringing in family, friends, and acquaintances, he began the renovation project from scratch, and in handling material like dirt and concrete, uncovering the history of the building and the land in Yokosuka, and the traces left behind by the people who had formerly lived in the house, he comes to find similarities with the photographic expression that he has been formulating. “Once again they see the light of day - these commonplace objects from the past, of no special historical value worth mentioning, buried in a series of renovations in the 80 years since first constructed. Far from inherited histories and traditions, everywhere these are stories unique to each home.” Although the house retains historical significance as the lodging house of the Japanese army during World War II, the artist rather uncovers and interacts with the subtle and plural presences and histories that have become buried under those who live in contemporary society, and creates new bonds and relationships through this work and its documentation.
The demolition and reconstruction of the house, which he found to be fundamentally linked with his own artistic practice, became a place of encounter (KAIKOO) with various people and things - the confrontation with material elements brought about by the creation of a home, with the land and history of Yokosuka, with the people who formerly lived in the house, with the soil and uprooted plants, with the wood and concrete processed by his own hands, evokes Yamatani’s photography which he formulates as “existing only through some sort of encounter.” In this exhibition, he investigates the way photography materializes through this relationship that accompanies corporeality and temporality; the way the reality in front of us appears as a vertical development, not only as a contemporary gaze of society but also as a locus of life.
*This exhibition is part of Art Week Tokyo.
With his early series “Tsugi no yoru e” and “ground,” Yamatani approached the photographic medium from various standpoints, presenting works that evoke an awareness of the distances, desires, and passions that exist in the liminal spaces between contemporary society and the individual. With “Into the Light” he attempts to expand the scope of the act of taking photos by using an infrared camera to take pictures of the suburbs at night. In his previous work “Doors” he conjured the subconscious under photography and the complexity of the gaze by creating a performance of the process leading to the production of an image. He constructed a special apparatus that captured his own performance on the drums and immediately printed the images on site, filling the physical space with self portraits.
These performative developments in Yamatani’s photographic expression is rooted in a boundless interest in and the challenge of photography as a medium that purports to captures reality as it is. At the same time, they are linked to a discomfort with the unilaterality of an event or subject becoming fixed in an image by the intent of the photographer. While his interest in the confrontation between photography and reality deepens, and society undergoes significant changes due to the pandemic, Yamatani began renovating an 82-year-old three-part single story house in Yokosuka into a home and studio. Bringing in family, friends, and acquaintances, he began the renovation project from scratch, and in handling material like dirt and concrete, uncovering the history of the building and the land in Yokosuka, and the traces left behind by the people who had formerly lived in the house, he comes to find similarities with the photographic expression that he has been formulating. “Once again they see the light of day - these commonplace objects from the past, of no special historical value worth mentioning, buried in a series of renovations in the 80 years since first constructed. Far from inherited histories and traditions, everywhere these are stories unique to each home.” Although the house retains historical significance as the lodging house of the Japanese army during World War II, the artist rather uncovers and interacts with the subtle and plural presences and histories that have become buried under those who live in contemporary society, and creates new bonds and relationships through this work and its documentation.
The demolition and reconstruction of the house, which he found to be fundamentally linked with his own artistic practice, became a place of encounter (KAIKOO) with various people and things - the confrontation with material elements brought about by the creation of a home, with the land and history of Yokosuka, with the people who formerly lived in the house, with the soil and uprooted plants, with the wood and concrete processed by his own hands, evokes Yamatani’s photography which he formulates as “existing only through some sort of encounter.” In this exhibition, he investigates the way photography materializes through this relationship that accompanies corporeality and temporality; the way the reality in front of us appears as a vertical development, not only as a contemporary gaze of society but also as a locus of life.
*This exhibition is part of Art Week Tokyo.
Schedule | Oct 16 (Sat) 2021-Nov 13 (Sat) 2021 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Free | ||||||
| Website | https://yukatsuruno.com/en/exhibitions/pr091_kaikoo | ||||||
| Venue | Yuka Tsuruno Gallery http://yukatsuruno.com/ | ||||||
| Location | 3F Terrada Art Complex, 1-33-10 Higashi Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0002 | ||||||
| Access | 9 minute walk from exit B at Tennozu Isle Station on the Rinkai line, 10 minute walk from the South exit of Tennozu Isle Station on the Tokyo Monorail line, 9 minute walk from the North exit of Shimbamba Station on the Keikyu line. | ||||||
| Phone | 03-5781-2525 | ||||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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