PAST EXHIBITION

Hiraki Sawa: New Work

March 27, 2009—April 25, 2009

James Cohan Gallery will present the third gallery exhibition by Japanese-born, British-trained video artist Hiraki Sawa who uses video animation to create poetic dreamscapes in which, as the artist explains, “artificial landscapes, unexpected worlds, domestic and imaginary spaces interwoven, presences both felt and remembered are explored in all of my works.  The notion of exile and migration is a subtext of the video works.”  Of late, Sawa has ventured outside his home which has provided the setting for his well-known early pieces like Airliner, Spotter and Dwelling, and is making new works where the improbable occurs in natural settings—a Ferris wheel spins like an oasis in the desert, a small house with electric light nestles against a root of a tree in the forest.  By combining images of both fabricated elements, such as a sculpted room, and real elements such as waves crashing on the shore, Sawa tries to engage the viewer’s own imagination to fill in the answer to the question, “is it real or not?” The artist likens the feeling of ambiguity that his subtle images convey to the feeling of being an outsider; like a traveler in a foreign land—or perhaps more personally, a young man from Japan making a life for himself in London.

 

Currently, Hiraki Sawa is participating in the Busan Biennial (Busan, South Korea,) while this past September, Hiraki Sawa was invited to make a new installation piece for the Best of Discovery exhibition at the ShContemporary Art Fair (Shanghai, China.)  Recently, Sawa has had solo exhibitions at the Chisenhale Gallery (London, UK); and at the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia); the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington D.C); UCLA Hammer Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA): and the Saint Louis Art Museum (Saint Louis, MO.)  Sawa’s work was also included in the Yokohama Triennial, 2005 and the Lyon Biennial, 2003.  This coming year, Sawa will be participating in exhibitions in Brazil, Finland and the US.

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