2023 | Acrylic and analog chromogenic print on canvas (with acrylic frame) | 13.5 × 10 × 2.7 in [343 × 253 × 68 mm] | © Kazuhito Tanaka, courtesy KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY
2023 | Acrylic and analog chromogenic print on canvas (with acrylic frame) | 13.5 × 10 × 2.7 in [343 × 253 × 68 mm] | © Kazuhito Tanaka, courtesy KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY
Kazuhito Tanaka “Picture(s)”
May 18-21, 2023 | Booth #P32
Picture(s) #47
2023 | Acrylic and analog chromogenic print on canvas (with acrylic frame)
13.5 × 10 × 2.7 in [343 × 253 × 68 mm]
© Kazuhito Tanaka, courtesy KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY
KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Kazuhito Tanaka (b. 1973, Japan) at NADA New York 2023.
Tanaka has been presenting works that offer new possibilities for abstraction from various angles using photography. Through various series, he has explored and pushed the borders of “photography” and “painting.”
Picture(s), which will be showcased on this occasion, is Tanaka’s latest series in which photographic paper (color photograms exposed in a darkroom) and paints (abstract paintings) are equally juxtaposed on a canvas and easily surpass so-called “pictorial photographs” or “realistic paintings.” This series is one of Tanaka’s achievements in constantly questioning what photography, painting, and seeing are based on his unique methodology
Artist Statement
An abstract painting, a composition of torn chromogenic photograms exposed in the darkroom, and an acrylic box sealing their fate. There is no hierarchy to their plane, they influence each other while presenting their differences as a medium. A conversation is present that is devoid of these mediums’ historic tensions. Ripped and folded photograms are layered and emerging off the canvas. They mimic the paint strokes while their color and sculptural form are evidently more vivid than the paint.
Painting, who are you? Photography, who are you? Or, who am I, without imagery?
Kazuhito Tanaka
Artist Profile
Kazuhito Tanaka was born in 1973 in Saitama, Japan. After receiving a B.Com. at Meiji University, School of Commerce and working in a corporate job, he relocated to the United States. In 2004, Tanaka received a B.F.A. at the School of Visual Arts (New York).
Exhibiting works both in Japan and abroad, Tanaka explores new forms of expression through photography, focusing on the relationship between photography and painting. He is currently based in Kyoto and Fukuoka. As its director, he also organizes exhibitions at the artist-run space “soda” in Kyoto. He received the Grand Prix at Tokyo Frontline Photo Award in 2011.
Tanaka’s recent solo exhibitions include “Picture(s)” (2023, Gallery PARC, Kyoto; 2022, KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY, Tokyo; 2022, Paris London Hong Kong, Chicago), “Gravity and Light” (2020, soda, Kyoto, Japan), “Self-Dual” (2019, Gallery PARC, Kyoto), “Gold Sees Blue” (2018, Maki Fine Arts, Tokyo), and “Trans/Real: The Potential of Intangible Art Vol.7 Kazuhito Tanaka” (2017, gallery αM, Tokyo).
Group exhibitions include “FGC July Exhibitions” (2022, Foreland, New York), “Never the Same Ocean” (2021, HAGIWARA PROJECTS, Tokyo), “Wind and Images” (2021, Sprout Curation, Tokyo), “S/F -Photography, or a Monolith after 200 years-” (2019, KAYOKOYUKI, Tokyo), and “TAMA VIVANT II” (2016, Tama Art University, Tokyo).
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