The eyeball is jealous of the egg.
The egg is fragile and unstable, yet within its white liquid sphere lies the source of life.
The egg yearns for the eyeball that can see the world and be enraptured, although also frightened.
Both have the same elliptical spherical shape (like testicles), but the eyeball can never be an egg, and the egg can never become the eyeball [although in Japanese fried eggs are called medamayaki].
Both eggs and eyes take pride in being motifs that were much loved by the surrealists.
ーShuhei Yamada
Yamada was born in 1974 and lives in Kyoto. He has exhibited in Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and New York. In 2003, Yamada was awarded the New Cosmos of Photography Excellence Prize by Canon. In 2013, thanks to a referral by Eric Shiner, the director of The Andy Warhol Museum, Yamada was the only Japanese artist chosen for the Armory Show “Focus”, and his World War II-inspired artwork was well received.
Yamada's focus on nihilism has led him to create art that critically examines aspects of contemporary society. Yamada works in a variety of media, including photography, video, installation and various two-dimensional art, but all of his work shares an underlying sharp, often thought provoking, approach to their subjects and themes.
Sometimes ironic, sometimes nonsensical, his art encapsulates his unique perspective, and by causing a subtle “gap” in the viewer's understanding of everyday objects and images, he prompts thinking about larger questions.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is the grouping of large balloons titled “EYE,” which represents 2-meter high “eyeballs” inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's film, “Spellbound,” a 1945 psycho-thriller. Salvador Dali, a genius of surrealism, collaborated in the creation of the film's staging and images. Yamada uses eyes and eyeballs (Japanese: medama), a favorite motif of surrealist artists, to depict today's society.
The eyes are drawn on the balloons based on AI-generated images. The way in which the balloons are blown and shaken by the wind (from the fan) echoes how people living in modern society are consumed and tossed about by images and information.
On the wall, a selection of silkscreen titled “Egg,” are also based on motifs used by Dali and René Magritte. The egg, a symbol of creation and birth, is here depicted by Yamada with a burning building inside. The combination of the serene outline of an egg with images of destruction and conflagration expresses a provocative sensibility.
This will be Yamada’s first solo exhibition at SOKYO ATSUMI, and we hope you will take this opportunity to view his work.
Shuhei Yamada
Born 1974, currently lives and works in Kyoto.
Major solo exhibitions include Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London (2019); AISHONANZUKA, Hong Kong (2017, 2016, 2014); The Armory Show, New York (2013). Major group exhibitions include Positionalities, Kyoto City University of Arts Gallery @ KCUA, Kyoto (2022); KUROOBIANACONDA 03 SANMAIOROSHI, TEZUKAYAMA GALLERY, Osaka (2021); Taguchi Collection Next World The Power of Dreaming, Iwaki City Museum of Art, Japan (2021); Unclear Nuclear, URANO, Tokyo, Japan (2016); Resonance, Sao La Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2014); ISCP Residency Program, New York (2017). Awards include New Cosmos of Photography Excellence Prize by Canon (2003). His works are in the collections of the Taguchi Collection and G foundation.
