Process of Blowing Flour

2010 - Photography (Photography)

Koki Tanaka

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Tanaka’s unique understanding of objects and materials is reflected in the four photographs that document his Process of Blowing Flour . The images depict the gradual blowing away of a plate of flour held by Tanaka. Because his pose is static throughout the images, his presence is deemphasized and instead the viewer’s attention is drawn to the motion of the flour. The subtle contrast between the fixed and the flowing generates a sense of time and ephemerality, suggesting the infinite possibilities of chance to alter our inflexible perceptions. The aesthetic quality of the flowing flour also evidences the ability of the simplest gesture to generate spectacle.

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Koki Tanaka is part of a generation of Japanese artists whose work responded to the economic recession and limited opportunities that beset their country in the early 2000s. Instead of creating monuments, these artists focused on everyday life, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary by stimulating moments of perceptual awakening. Their social critique was enacted through the spectacular and unexpected combination of materials, humor, and simple actions. Working primarily with found objects and video, Tanaka’s practice reveals hidden links between object and action.

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Colors:

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• ephemera.n.01
• possibility.n.01
• gesture.n.03
• flow.n.04
• chance.n.03
• flour.n.01
• contemporary conceptualism
• drawing
• film/video
• food
• japanese
• japanese contemporary artists