Tuesday, January 19, 2016

3 PORTFOLIO & ADV ART - Kumi Yamashita

WOW
WOW
OKAY
I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN WITH THIS ARTIST. SHE IS JUST SO GOOD I honestly teared up a little while looking at her works. Not that it touched me emotionally or anything, she's just really good at art.
Kumi Yamashita.
Okay so this artist is from Japan, but she now lives in New York. A lot of her art deals with light and shadows-- she makes art with both the tangible and intangible. Basically, she creates installations with a deliberate light source, which produces shadows that are relevant to her art. Let me show you.

1.
Oragami
Creased Japanese paper, single light source, shadow
2011
This piece is how I initially found the artist on tumblr.

2.
Veil
Light, fabric, shadow 
2013

3.
City View
Aluminum numbers, single light source, shadow
2003

4.
Clouds
Cut aluminum plate, single light source, shadow
2005

There are so many more I wanted to include but I didn't want to overwhelm you so check them out here if you're interested.
So basically, pretty much all of her works I have included above depends heavily on deliberate light which creates the shadows she wants. The shadows are an essential part of her art... She's basically painting with light and/or shadows. And I love how she explores shadows through different materials instead of only limiting herself to one method-- the different materials bring their own meaning to the piece! 
I think this was cool because it connects to what I'm trying to do...Without a light deliberately placed in a specific spot towards my piece, the work won't make any sense. 

When asked what attracted Yamashita why she enjoyed working with light and shadows, she said,

"For me, shadows came to symbolize another dimension of life, 
perhaps something even more real than its holder."

And Kumi Yamashita doesn't just deal with light and shadows!

5.

Constellation - Mana
Wood panel, brads, single sewing thread
2011
This one is done with nails and thread!

6.
Kelly
Japanese paper, graphite
1993
This one is done by placing a paper over the texture of the 
subject's personal and expired credit card and rubbing it with graphite.

7.
Warp & Weft - Mana
Fabric with threads removed
2007

There are so many more various pieces she has done that are absolutely riveting. Man, the number of pictures I included in this post isn't even remotely near the number of examples I wanted to include here. I had to leave out a lot of interesting artwork because I didn't want to make the post too long (it already kinda is.. heh sorry). She makes and explores other different concepts through numerous materials. Check it out on her website (included in the links below).

Alright, that's it. I'll leave you with this:

Interviewer: What's the last thing that made you say 'wow'?
Kumi Yamashita: All the kind acts in the world. Countless 'wow's.


Links: 
  • http://www.kumiyamashita.com/  <<< CHECK IT OUT, has pictures and descriptions of her works. So, so easy to navigate. Really interesting.
  • http://www.designboom.com/art/kumi-yamashita-interview-03-05-2015/

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Red = irrelevant

2 comments:

  1. i've seen this artist before!!!!!! her work is absolutely amazing and i think it would be really cool if you interpreted light and shadows with the soldiers you are doing.

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  2. This is so cool, Shalom! I love that she deals with shadows. I think my favorite piece is Clouds. I love the couple and how she made them look as if they were holding up the light source. I love that you evidently love to blog! You are so good at it, it's frustrating (stop making us all look bad Shalom :/ )

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