Katsutoshi Yuasa, Edinburgh UK opens 1 April

Katsutoshi Yuasa, Edinburgh UK opens 1 April

Postby Corn Exchange » Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:25 pm

The imaginary: KATSUTOSHI YUASA

1 April to 27 May, open Tue to Fri, 11am to 4.30pm or by appointment.
Corn Exchange Gallery, Constitution Street, Leith, Edinburgh 0131 561 7300.

Japanese artist, Katsutoshi Yuasa returns to the Corn Exchange Gallery with a new collection of meticulously handcrafted woodcuts based on photographs.

Katsu’s prints range from over three and a half feet to almost eight feet in height. They are the products of an intense and lengthy process which he describes as a long spiritual journey to his inner world, where the photograph used at the start is completely changed as it goes back and forth between his subconscious and the real world. Katsu sees this transformation as an act of purification and the changes to the image a means of grasping a higher truth or meaning.

In order to attain this purity, the photograph is digitally processed in monochrome before being distilled into large hand-cut woodblocks. Carved from a wooden panel using a traditional Japanese knife the results are not so much observations but contemplations of the world around us, printed by hand on paper.

Light plays an important role in Katsu’s prints where a glimmering radiance filters through leafy branches of trees or closed curtains on windows.
His most recent works from his Pseudo Mythology series are about mythology as an image, where words create images and the images create words. Using his imagination Katsu creates stories around the image and the final work, instead of being a mirror image of the original photograph, is the reality in his mind.

Katsutoshi Yuasa said: “Everyone has imagination, it is our way of approaching it that differs. In the book ‘The Imaginary’, Sartre says, ‘We ‘see’ a star as imaged and it is a few inches from us but we do not know at all where this image is an image, it is not surrounded by an imaginary universe.’ What I wonder is where the reality is. When I see a star, I cannot feel its presence. However, when I imagine a star, I can feel its reality in my mind.

My recent works are about mythology but not specifically mythology because what I am interested in is mythology as an image, which we can share in our imaginations beyond country, religion and any other boundaries. I hope my work creates an attractive image in the minds of everyone who sees it and this leads to enriched conversation.”

About Katsutoshi Yuasa
Born in Tokyo in 1978, Katsu graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2005 with a Masters in printmaking and the RCA prize for publishing. In 2010 he showed work at Black Dog in London and was part of the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. From 2008 to 2009 he was in residence at le Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris which culminated in a solo show Open Atelier #8109. In 2009 he also had solo shows at Edinburgh Printmakers, SCOPE in Basel, the ASPN Galerie in Leipzig and at The Daiwa Foundation in London.

Katsu first studied painting and printmaking at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo where he has exhibited widely, with solo shows at the INAX Gallery in 2009 and the CIBONE in 2007. He is currently artist in residence at The Danish Art Workshops in Copenhagen and lives and works in Tokyo, Japan.



ENDS/

For more information please contact Emma Henderson, 0131 346 1184, 07977 134 614, email emma@pi-communications.co.uk or visit www.cornexchangegallery.com



Notes to Editors:

• Hi res images of Katsutoshi’s work are available.

• The gallery will show 14 pieces of work by Katsu. The two largest works, measuring 8ft by 10ft approximately, are from this 2011 Pseudo Mythology series.

• All work in the gallery is for sale.

• Katsutoshi first showed at the Corn Exchange Gallery in May 2006.

• The Corn Exchange Gallery is a private gallery dedicated to the development of emerging artists and funded and marketed by Navyblue Design; one of the top five branding groups in the UK, operating countrywide and internationally through divisional offices in Johannesburg, London, Edinburgh, Muscat and Budapest. Founded in 1994 Navyblue has over the last 15 years, amassed over 100 design and business awards and was recently voted design agency of the decade in the Scottish Design Awards.

• There will be a private view of The imaginary on Thursday 31 March from 6pm to 8.30pm.
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Re: Katsutoshi Yuasa, Edinburgh UK opens 1 April

Postby CAP » Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:09 am

So it's the mythology of mythology, I guess.... ;)
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