Mika Ninagawa
24 Jan - 10 May 2015
MIKA NINAGAWA
Self-image
24 January – 10 May 2015
The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art is proud to announce a solo exhibition by the internationally active photographer Mika Ninagawa. Known for her vivid and richly colorful photographs, Ninagawa is an artist who continually challenges herself, expanding in recent years into the areas of cinema, music videos and even collaborations with fashion designers, while maintaining a style that is uniquely her own. The vitality and splendor conveyed in her colors – dubbed "Ninagawa Color" – and images of teen idols and flowers stand in stark contrast to the sense of distortion, decline, stagnation and even death that she captures in other work.
At the core of the exhibition are Ninagawa's noir series, a study of darkness and shadows that broke new ground for the artist, her PLANT A TREE series of cherry blossoms scattered on the surface of rivers created during a period of intense focus, and her monochrome self-portraits which she began at the start of her career and has added intermittently since then. Together they present a "self-image" described by Ninagawa as being "close to her raw and unguarded self". This exhibition features about 150 pieces centered on never-before-shown works (including a new video/sound installation).
Born in Tokyo, Japan. Winner of many awards including the Grand Prize of the 7th Hitotsuboten, the Excellent Award of the 13th Canon New Cosmos of Photography Prize, the 9th Konica Photo Encouragement Award, the 26th Kimura Ihei Award and the Ohara Museum of Art Award (the 13th VOCA 2006 Exhibition). To date, she has published about 90 books. She directed her first feature-length film SAKURAN, which opened in 2007. Critically acclaimed in Japan and abroad, the film was a special entry at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival and the 31st Hong Kong International Film Festival. The exhibition Mika Ninagawa: Earthly Flowers, Heavenly Colors (2008) was launched at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery and toured art museums throughout Japan, where it attracted some 180,000 viewers. Her second directorial effort, Helter Skelter, opened in 2012 and was awarded the Silver Kaneto Shindo Award 2012. In 2014, she was appointed as an executive board member of the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2020.
http://www.ninamika.com
Self-image
24 January – 10 May 2015
The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art is proud to announce a solo exhibition by the internationally active photographer Mika Ninagawa. Known for her vivid and richly colorful photographs, Ninagawa is an artist who continually challenges herself, expanding in recent years into the areas of cinema, music videos and even collaborations with fashion designers, while maintaining a style that is uniquely her own. The vitality and splendor conveyed in her colors – dubbed "Ninagawa Color" – and images of teen idols and flowers stand in stark contrast to the sense of distortion, decline, stagnation and even death that she captures in other work.
At the core of the exhibition are Ninagawa's noir series, a study of darkness and shadows that broke new ground for the artist, her PLANT A TREE series of cherry blossoms scattered on the surface of rivers created during a period of intense focus, and her monochrome self-portraits which she began at the start of her career and has added intermittently since then. Together they present a "self-image" described by Ninagawa as being "close to her raw and unguarded self". This exhibition features about 150 pieces centered on never-before-shown works (including a new video/sound installation).
Born in Tokyo, Japan. Winner of many awards including the Grand Prize of the 7th Hitotsuboten, the Excellent Award of the 13th Canon New Cosmos of Photography Prize, the 9th Konica Photo Encouragement Award, the 26th Kimura Ihei Award and the Ohara Museum of Art Award (the 13th VOCA 2006 Exhibition). To date, she has published about 90 books. She directed her first feature-length film SAKURAN, which opened in 2007. Critically acclaimed in Japan and abroad, the film was a special entry at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival and the 31st Hong Kong International Film Festival. The exhibition Mika Ninagawa: Earthly Flowers, Heavenly Colors (2008) was launched at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery and toured art museums throughout Japan, where it attracted some 180,000 viewers. Her second directorial effort, Helter Skelter, opened in 2012 and was awarded the Silver Kaneto Shindo Award 2012. In 2014, she was appointed as an executive board member of the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2020.
http://www.ninamika.com