Fumio Tanai
dal 12/3/2008 al 24/4/2008
Segnalato da
12/3/2008
Fumio Tanai
Sous Les Etoiles, New York
Photograps. The artist's work expresses the existence of human beings in the emptiness of their rooms with both reflected as anonymous objects in the viewer's eyes. They are the bodies that are thrown into this world, the spirits still rolling in time, while the bodies stay still in space.
“In the present day, we have shifted to an internet society where the world can be connected instantly. The relationship between existence, place and identity has become a common human theme. I lived in London from 2005-2006 and got to know people of diverse nationalities with various views of the world, including doctors, students, hairdressers and professors...I began to photograph them in their own rooms. I had them sit down on a chair and turn to the front diagonally. Although this process of photography was made “law,” whereby the freedom of expression was restrained, through this method I trust the arbitrary sight of the subject and at the same time regulate it. Consequently, these images can be compared. I made 100 portraits”, says Fumio Tanai.
The emotional gray area between freedom and captivity appears in the room where an immigrant lives. In Japan, some times, the color gray is called "IKI". It is the highest aesthetic values aimed at by the tea ceremony and haiku. Those values are a fundamental sense of quiet sadness, encouragement of simplicity, and rejection of gaudiness. The psychological and interiorized space of the face are emphasized by precise composition and continuous gray, the landmark of Fumio Tanai's style. In the world of Zen, "no captivity" is "no mind," which in brief means it visits when in the state of thinking and seeing nothing; in the ultimate, it brings self-discovery. And then, the image seems a shell of that internal state, and emphasizes the mimesis between the person and his room in such a relation.
Photographs also have the potential to capture what is ordinarily hidden in concrete objects, signs. It is the act of photographing itself that uncovers or reveals essence.
Photography was originally an anonymous device. Fumio Tanai’s work expresses the existence of human beings in the emptiness of their rooms with both reflected as anonymous objects in the viewer’s eyes. They are the bodies that are thrown into this world, the spirits still rolling in time, while the bodies stay still in space. Humans were only given their bodies. They are no more than just flying objects in time. A number of Fumio Tanai’s works show emotionless images thrust towards the viewers. A viewer will see the subtle warmth of Fumio Tanai permeating into the anonymous visions.
Daido Moriyama
Opening Reception: Thursday March 13, 6-9 pm
Sous Les Etoiles
560 Broadway - New York
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 10 am to 6 pm and saturday 2 pm to 5 pm
Free admission