NYAB Event - Yu Yamauchi "Dawn"

Yu Yamauchi "Dawn"

MIYAKO YOSHINAGA art prospects

This event has ended.

Miyako Yoshinaga presents DAWN, an important body of work from Japanese photographer Yu Yamauchi. The artist will conduct a talk on Thursday, November 1 at 7p.m.

The gallery is honored to premiere DAWN (2006-2009), Yamauchi's first major photographic series in the United States. The artist produced DAWN while he lived in a hut on the summit of Mount Fuji five months a year for four years, representing a total of 600 days. Each photograph shown in the exhibition was captured at dawn from the exact same location. By revealing the essence of an airy mystical place, Yamauchi gives us the rare opportunity to experience the incredible spectacle of Earth waking up from the perspective of one of the planet's most breathtaking scenic points.

Regarded as the most sacred mountain of Japan, Mount Fuji profoundly influences Japanese history, culture and iconography. In art history, Hokusai's 36 Views of Mount Fuji count among the most well known representation of this iconic landmark. With the series DAWN, Yamauchi takes a singular and unique approach by focusing on the sacred landscape from the summit's vintage point. Essential to the artist is the notion of a physical place situated between earth and the universe; removed from society, Yamauchi reminds us that our planet is part of a boundless extent.

Using traditional film processes, Yamauchi fully renders the depth of colors and complexities of the skies to their fullest potential. Unlike painting or other traditional mediums, photography instantly captures the ever-changing reality set by time. The exhibition revolves around Yamauchi's spiritual account of the morning sunshine called "goraikō" which traditionally means "honorable arrival of light." The series DAWN explores the movement of light and air through the Rorschach test-like renderings of the celestial displays also suggesting the artist's own Copernican discovery of the universe.

In sharing those spiritual visions of nature, Yamauchi hopes to remind the viewer that we, as conscious humans, are present here and now.

Born in Japan in 1977, Yu Yamauchi is a self-taught fine art photographer. He received honorable mention at the 2008 New Cosmos of Photography (Japan) and 2009 International Photography Award in Fine Art (USA). DAWN series is part of important public and private collections in Japan and the United States.