Emon Photo Gallery together with curators Anri Yokosuka and Caroline Trausch are pleased to present SHAFTS & FORMS, the first artistic duo between Japanese photographer Noriaki Yokosuka and French sculpture artist Hedva Ser.
After the success of the exhibit in Tokyo, SHAFTS & FORMS was selected to participate in the international photography festival Kyotographie 2014 and its satellite event KG+ in Kyoto. Launched last year and modeled on “les Rencontres d’Arles”, the annual summer photography fair in France, Kyotographie strives to present the art of photography in an authentic setting, immersed in local history and culture.
Japanese artist Noriaki Yokosuka (1937 – 2003) was admired and supported by Nobuyoshi Araki, Issey Miyake and Eiko Ishioka. His photography has been attracting growing interest over time. Since his passing, significant events have included a solo exhibit and retrospective of his life’s work at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in conjunction with the publishing of the photobook “Photon & Ogre” in 2005, as well as the release of his first modern prints by his son Anri Yokosuka and Emon Photo Gallery in 2012.
In 2013, to mark the ten years of his passing, Yokosuka’s SHAFTS series, comprising photographs taken in 1964 at the very beginning of his fine art photography career, were exhibited for the first time alongside the bronze sculptures of the world renowed artist Hedva Ser at Emon Photo Gallery in Tokyo.
Yokosuka’s abstract black & white photographs from the SHAFTS series explore the construction of space and play on the contrast between light and shadow. The pure lines, combined with an exquisitely refined approach, illustrate the true Japanese aesthetic.
On a different yet complementary note, Hedva Ser’s bronze sculptures take us on a journey towards nature and its beautifully curved FORMS : tree, rock, wave, storm, totem and flame. Her works evoke both force and sensitivity, thus mirroring the Asian notion of the balance between yin and yang.
Ser was designated “artist for peace” by the UNESCO in 2011 for her engagement towards peace and her special work “tree of peace”. In France, she was named “Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur” in 2001 and “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” in 1986. She studied with Alicia Penalba, an artist much appreciated in Japan with permanent work at the Open Air Museum in Hakone. Ser was also influenced by Hokusai, especially for her wave and storm sculptures. She has exhibited in Paris, Milan, Monaco, Athens, Luxembourg, Krakow, Boston, Los Angeles and Tel-Aviv.
For Kyotographie KG+, SHAFTS & FORMS will be shown in a traditional Japanese house belonging to Ryokoku University. The magnetic connection between Yokosuka’s contemporary abstract photographs and Ser’s figurative organic sculptures blends beautifully into the authentic setting of a Kyoto home lost in time.
EXHIBITION
SHAFTS & FORMS
19 April – 10 May 2014
Kyotographie KG+
Fukakusa Machiya, Ryokoku University
Kyoto
Under the auspices of the Embassy of France and the French Institute of Japan
