KUMI YAMASHITA

Kumi Yamashita’s art functions as the visible reminder of invisible art. From simple beginnings, she invites us to reassess the unpredictable relationship between what we expect to see and our actual perception. Much of Kumi Yamashita’s artwork is constructed with everyday things such as alphabets, building blocks, thread, nails, credit card rubbings and light installations. As a result of the process these ordinary material objects are transformed into arresting yet elusive images. Separate pieces may connect together in a shadow, and a simple piece of paper can create an endless variety of profiles. Kumi’s methods and materials go beyond the confines of traditional media, transforming one medium into something else. For example, footprints on a sheet compose a face; blocks of various heights cast a realistic human shadow; a single piece of thread creates a subtly modulated portrait. With great attention to detail, Yamashita’s works are exhaustively complex and precise— yet they remain deeply human.

Kumi Yamashita received her Master of Fine Arts degree from Glasglow School of Art. Her solo shows include: the Seattle Art Museum, Boise Art Museum, Yerba Buena Centre, San Francisco, the Esplanade in Singapore, Hillside Gallery in Tokyo and the Kent Gallery in New York. She is scheduled for a solo exhibition at the Sato Museum, Tokyo and the Dillon Gallery, New York for 2012. Her work is in the collection of the New Mexico History Museum, Seattle City Light, Microsoft Collection, Boise Art Museum, the Hamada Art Museum and others.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
  • 2011 Project Room Installation, Dillon Gallery, New York
  • 2008 Kent Gallery, New York
  • 2005 Sunny Days and Starry Nights, Esplanade, Singapore
  • 2002 Kathleen E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota; Glass Gallery, University of Texas at El Paso; Hillside Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Kent Gallery, New York; Roswell Museum and Art Center, New Mexico
  • 1999 Yerba Buena Center, California
  • 1998 Salt Lake Art Center, Utah
  • Boise Art Museum, Idaho
  • 1997 Seattle Art Museum, Washington
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
  • 2011 Sensai, Dillon Gallery, New York
  • 2010 Kaohsiung Design Festival, Taiwan
  • Look Again, Southern Center for Contemporary Art, North Carolina
  • 2009 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, Niigata, Japan
  • Woman Forward, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, New York
  • 2007 Reversible, Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, UK
  • 2005 Wake of Light, Sendai Mediateque, Miyagi, Japan
  • 2004 Sfenks Seni Yiyip Yutacak, Karşı Sanat Çalışmaları, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 2003 Global Priority, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
  • 2002 Containment, Llanternam Grange Art Centre, Wales, UK
  • 2001 Obsession, University Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego
  • 2000 Kirin Art Award Exhibition, Tokyo - Osaka, Japan
  • 1999 Trace, Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, UK ¬
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
  • Microsoft Art Collections, Washington
  • New Mexico History Museum, New Mexico
  • Sapporo JR Tower Stellar Place, Hokkaido, Japan
  • Namba Parks Tower, Osaka, Japan
  • Boise Art Museum, Idaho
  • Kunming University of Science and Technology, Yunnan, China
  • Seattle City Light, Washington
  • Akiru Municipal Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan
  • Hamada Children’s Museum of Art, Shimane, Japan