Thursday, December 5, 2013

A room of wonder | Tokyo. Artist: Yoi Kawakubo












川久保ジョイ写真家、ヴィジュアルアーティスト
Yoi Kawakubo (Photographer, Visual artist)

明るい闇(2012)
   The bright side of the dark (2012)

[Description]
Three years ago, I went to shoot the ruins of Dartmoor National Park in England. Covered in fog all year round, Dartmoor National Park is a national park bigger than Metropolitan Tokyo. To photograph some dolmens and stone circles, I left the car, and went into the fog relying on a map and a compass. During the shooting, I lost the way back to my car and started to wander the wetlands, while the night began to fall. I put a flashlight trying to avoid the looming darkness, but a cold fear was amplified further in the night fog. As the darkness become deeper and deeper and I lost the way back, and a cold anxiousness began to sting my mind and I slowly started to panic. Suddenly, a wild sheep appeared in front of me. Because of the fog and the darkness I wasn't able to realize of its presence until it was surprisingly near. I was frozen and my tension reached its peak. That moment, I remembered some old words, and I turned off the flashlight. By devoting oneself to the darkness, one become part of the night, and then the darkness becomes the light. I stood in silence staring at the darkness. As my eyes started to adapt to the darkness I noticed that the surroundings looked like a seabed of ultramarine blue with pale hazy fog. When I realized, the sheep was gone. As I listened, the wind flowing in the distance could be heard. My fear was gone, and slowly a slightly shivering silence started to calmly flood my brain. It was a very beautiful moment. 
Yoi Kawakubo

[Artist Statement]
What I always have in mind when making my works is the concept of time, meta-reality and coincidence. In my photographic works I deal with time, a dimension that is easily manipulated through photography, and look for the metaphysical state of the landscape. In my installation works I use sounds, light, words and video to try to get a new perception of the world and some times to find the meta-view of the environment in which we live or the works are presented, sometimes showing some alternative realities through the five senses. I always try to capture a metaphysical side or the essence of the physical world we live in, the world outside time.

[Biography]
Born in 1979 in Toledo, Spain. He bases his works on landscape photography and in installation works based in conceptual themes regarding the ontology of photography and the light itself. He has held numerous solo shows in Tokyo: "The Colossus drive and the black sun" at hpgrp GALLERY TOKYO (Nov. 2012), "Before night falls" at Shinseido-Hatanaka, Tokyo (June 2012), "Speak the Unspeakable" at Tokyo Wonder Site Hongo, Tokyo (May 2012), among others. Group exhibitions: "Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2012-2013 " (Espace Louis Vuitton Singapore), "TOKYO WONDERWALL 2011", Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (June 2011), "Images on twelve minds", Museum of Modern Art, Saitama (Apr. 2011), "Air" Space Womb Contemporary Art, New York (Dec. 2010), "Photo Taipei 2009"Taipei (Dec. 2009). Winner of various awards, including TAGBOAT Summer award Grand Prix in 2009, and finalist in the Sovereing Art Foundation Asia Award 2012.

© Tokyo Wonder Site | photos: Masahiro Nagata

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Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio de Janeiro. I am a performing artist and art maker coming from dance. I love to dialogue with the historical, material and affective context we are immersed in any given situation. As art form, my work goes from multimedia stage conceptual work to convivial and open-air pieces. It strikes me the awareness and fictions arising from the sublime of daily situations, its materiality, the reference points that we cling to and build up our relation to reality and how meaning grows from this. contacts: gustavociriaco@gmail.com | marine@elclimamola.com

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