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Hiroko Komatsu Solo Exhibition

“Channeled Drawing”

▼OPENING RECEPTION

December 2nd (Saturday), 2023, 18:00-19:00

■Period
December 2nd (Saturday), 2023 -  January 20th (Saturday), 2024

Wed - Fri 13:00-20:00 | Sat 12:00-19:00

(closed on Suns, Mon, Tue, and National Holidays)

*Winter holidays: Dec. 24 (Sun), 2023 - Jan. 16 (Tue), 2024

■Venue

KANA KAWANISHI PHOTOGRAPHY

2-7-5-5F, Nishiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0031

□Organizer: KANA KAWANISHI ART OFFICE LLC.

□Co-organizer: Society of Photography

□Cooperation: Oriental Photo Corporation

▼The 33rd Society of Photography Award Ceremony & Party

Date & Time:

 

Venue:

Entry Fee:

Organizer:

January 20th (Saturday), 2024 | *Entry starts after gallery hours

entry: 19:15- | ceremony/party: 19:30-21:30

KANA KAWANISHI PHOTOGRAPHY

2000 JPY (no invitation/reservation is required)

Society of Photography (Cooperation: KANA KAWANISHI ART OFFICE LLC.)

Channeled Drawing 35.690642, 139.591094

2020 | conté on tracing paper, gelatin silver print | drawing: 297 × 210 mm, print: 254 × 203 mm

©︎ Hiroko Komatsu, courtesy KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY

KANA KAWANISHI PHOTOGRAPHY is pleased to present “Channeled Drawing,” a solo exhibition by Hiroko Komatsu starting December 2, 2023.

Known for her overwhelmingly voluminous photographic works, such as rolls of paper spread from the ceiling to the floor or rolled up and presented in a manner that includes invisibility, Komatsu’s “Channeled Drawing” is a complete turnaround from her previous works. The “Channeled Drawing” exhibition consists of pairs of minimalist black and white framed works.

Channeled Drawing is a series that consists of paired works; a paper that has been frottaged (a technique of placing paper on an uneven surface and rubbing it with a pencil or crayon to create a pattern) of a ground, and a photogram (photographic works created by placing an object directly on photographic paper to make it light-sensitive) of that frottage. In its margins, the latitude and longitude, year, and method/number of victims are printed, indicating that the frottaged location is the site of a murder.

Komatsu, who has said at a talk event that she is particularly interested in serial killers, says that her motivation for creating this series is her interest in what lies behind the impulses that drive people to commit morally repugnant acts. Violent extinction is also the beginning of negative memories, and the perpetrator and the victim may be inextricably linked in a circle, and the minimalist representation of the work seems to lead to a number of fundamental questions.

 

We cordially invite all to “Channeled Drawing,” which will be the first solo exhibition by Hiroko Komatsu at our gallery. 

"Channeled Drawing 35.625974, 139.451745"

"Channeled Drawing 35.625974, 139.451745"

2022 | conté on tracing paper, gelatin silver print drawing: 297 × 210 mm | print: 254 × 203 mm | ©︎ Hiroko Komatsu, courtesy KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY

"Channeled Drawing 35.652947, 139.415644"

"Channeled Drawing 35.652947, 139.415644"

2022 | conté on tracing paper, gelatin silver print drawing: 297 × 210 mm | print: 254 × 203 mm | ©︎ Hiroko Komatsu, courtesy KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY

Artist Statement

Reality is either what is now appearing in front of us as fact, or what constrains and defines the events experienced by individual subjects through the ideas circulating outside, or the primary field that is the basis for such events. The human brain is said to be biologically wired to respond to stories, and tends to intervene with stories to deal with reality as it appears in fragments. A story is primarily a prose, rhymed, or written account of a person or incident. When telling the story of a specific incident, the aspect of the story varies greatly depending on whether the narrator is a party directly involved in the incident or a third party, and whether the party is the perpetrator or the victim. The term “perpetrator” refers to a person who has committed an act of harm against another person, and is used in a variety of situations, including bullying, various types of harassment, crimes, accidents, and other problems between individuals, social problems such as pollution, and international human rights and historical issues such as discrimination, war, and colonial rule. The person harmed is called the victim, but the boundary between perpetrator and victim is sometimes blurred because the harm can be extensive. Those who died suddenly in wars, accidents, disasters, etc.; those who died with strong feelings of resentment or hatred; or those who are unaware that they have completed their commitment to suicide. Such cases may result in remaining in the land or building where they were when they died because they cannot accept or understand that they have already died and may become ‘jibakurei’ spirits. A jibakurei is a person who remains in the realm of life and clings to it even though he or she is in a situation where he or she should move to the realm of death, because of their adherence to life. Adherence is the persistent insistence on one’s own opinions, and a strong adherence by not only the dead, but also the living, promotes the transformation into a jibakurei, and the person is bound to thoughts, things, people, places, etc., and is stuck in a situation of a critical juncture. Although there is a question as to whether there can be “pure” victims, since the story presents different aspects depending on the narrator’s position, the victim is transformed into the perpetrator by becoming a jibakurei. In such cases, the targets of the perpetrator are not limited to others, but are very broad in scope, including himself/herself. Listening refers to the art of conversation in which one “listens” with acceptance and empathy without denying what the other person is saying, and is necessary in various situations such as business, medicine, and social life. Similarly, the ability to listen to the thoughts and feelings of the dead through psychic listening is also necessary. For both the living and the dead to be freed from their obsession, a person who accepts stories while maintaining a passive attitude in listening and spirit listening is needed. Those who kill their ego and become the recipients of others’ stories can probably be the “pure” victims.

 

Hiroko Komatsu

Artist Profile

Hiroko Komatsu was burn in 1969 in Kanagawa, Japan. Since her very first solo exhibition in 2009, Komatsu has exhibited her artworks in a number of solo and group exhibitions in Japan and abroad.

From 2010 to 2010, she ran the independent gallery Broiler Space, where she organized solo exhibitions monthly. In 2015, her work shown at “The 6th Fotofestival” (Germany) was acquired by MAST Foundation, Italy. In 2017, Komatsu received The 43rd Kimura Ihei Award for the series The Execution of Personal Autonomy shown at the exhibition “Mirror behind Hole – Photography into Sculpture” (Gallery αM, Tokyo) and The Wall, from Sanitary Bio-Preservation shown at the exhibition “The Power of Images” (MAST Foundation).

Her major exhibitions include the solo exhibitions “Second Decade” (2022, Joseloff Gallery [University of Hartford], Connecticut), “Creative Destruction” (2021, Davis Museum [Wellesley College], Massachusetts), and “Sincerity Department Loyal Division” (2021, dieFirma, New York), and the group exhibition “DECODE: Events and Materials” (2019, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama).

Her monographs include Channeled Drawing (Man Cave) and others.

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