Shinji Turner-Yamamoto “Microcosm & Macrocosm”

Sapar Contemporary

This event has ended.

Sapar Contemporary presents the first New York solo exhibition of the Japanese American artist Shinji Turner-Yamamoto. Turner-Yamamoto is known for creating paintings, sculptures, and installations that employ elemental materials such as trees, fossils, and minerals that forge profound and intimate connections with nature. The exhibition’s title “Microcosm and Macrocosm” refers to a vision of the cosmos where the part (microcosm) is a reflection of the whole (macrocosm). At the core of this exhibition is his Strata and Pentimenti series, in addition to a selection of new photographs and canvases. Seen separately, each piece is a view into the universe. Taken together, the works showcase multiple perspectives on nature, time, painting, and world building, that effectively captures a sense of nature’s infinitude. Here, Turner-Yamamoto’s latest works reflect the artist’s enduring interest in nature and landscape as a source of artistic inspiration, as well as a personal meditation on the passage of time and the inner landscapes of the mind.

Shinji Turner-Yamamoto is a Japanese born U.S.-based artist known for works with identifiable imagery to encourage humanity to encounter the essential in nature and time in new and unexpected ways. His current and ongoing sculpture project Pentimenti(2010—) employs historic and natural elements as meditations on the universe. Additional projects include Sidereal Silence, began in 2012 and inspired by waterfalls encountered in the Pacific Northwest wilderness. TheGlobal Tree Project (2000—) focuses on tree imagery and site-specificity. Shinji Turner-Yamamoto: Global Tree Project (DAMIANI, fall 2012), documents 11 projects worldwide. Recent commissions includeGlobal Tree Project: AXIS MUNDIfor Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland, and Global Tree Project: ISTANBUL, an installation for the historic ruin of an abandoned Jewish orphanage, Istanbul, Turkey. Turner-Yamamoto studied at Kyoto City University of Arts, and, sponsored by the Italian government, at Accademia di Belle Arti, Bologna. His work has been the subject of solo shows at Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Genoa, Italy; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA; the Ippaku-tei Teahouse, Embassy of Japan + Shigeko Bork MU Project, Washington, DC, USA. Site-specific installations include Palazzo Ducale, ASIART Asian Contemporary Art: Biennale d’Arte Contemporanea, Genoa, Italy; Saigyo-an Teahouse, Kyoto Art Walk, Kyoto, Japan; Gobi desert, Mongolia, MONGOLIA 360°: International Land Art Biennial; Deconsecrated Holy Cross Church, Cincinnati, OH, USA; SiTE:LAB at an abandoned industrial building, Grand Rapids, MI, USA which received the ArtPrize International Juried Award. Exhibitions include Substance and Increase, SAPAR CONTEMPORARY Gallery+Incubator, New York, NY, USA; Alchemy: Transformations in Gold, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA, USA. He lives and works in Cincinnati, OH, USA.

Jacqueline Chao is Senior Curator of Asian Art at the Crow Museum of Asian Art. Her recently curated exhibitions include Jacob Hashimoto: Clouds and Chaos, Invisible Cities: Moving Images Asia, Hidden Nature: Sopheap Pich, and Landscape Relativities: The Collaborative Works of Arnold Chang and Michael Cherney. She has curated and organized many exhibitions at the Crow, as well as at Phoenix Art Museum, ASU Art Museum, ASU Institute for Humanities Research, Chicago Artists Coalition, and the University of Toronto Art Centre, in the areas of ink painting, Tibetan sculpture, Japanese woodblock prints, and contemporary site-specific installation, photography and new media. Her publications include journal articles, books and catalogs on Chinese art and Buddhist art, and she has presented her research at various institutions, including universities, museums, and at national and international academic conferences and symposia. She previously taught Asian Art History at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, was Director of Exhibitions and Residencies at Chicago Artists Coalition, and contributed research to the Chinese painting collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. She holds an MA and PhD in Chinese Art History from Arizona State University, and a Honors BA in Art History from the University of Toronto.