Gallery 339 is pleased to present "Ephemeral Existence", an exhibition by Tetsugo Hyakutake (MFA '09). In "Ephemeral Existence", Hyakutake explores the contradictions inherent in the Japanese landscape and how those contradictions offer clues to understanding Japan today. Hyakutake’s work focuses primarily on industry and the infrastructure of modern society (bridges, railroads, highways), through which he seeks to decipher recent Japanese history and culture. Hyakutake’s conflicted relationship with these sites comes across in his ambiguous images. The grandeur of the structures suggests his admiration for the role that industrialization played in making the Japan of today: a manufacturing superpower, the second largest economy in the world, a country rebuilt from the ashes of the Second World War. Yet the images are not robust celebrations of national pride. There is an uncertainty to these structures. They have an ephemeral quality, as if they might disperse in the night air—beautiful dreams rather than steel and concrete. Hyakutake’s industrial photographs are also more than cold documents; they are suffused with a surprising sense of humanity, evoking the lives and toil that stand behind these monuments. The industrial miracle of the post war era clearly returned Japan from defeat to a remarkable economic victory, but Hyakutake ponders whether the price was too high and the victory too fleeting.
Opening Reception: Friday, April 8th, 6:00 - 8:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Tuesday, March 8th - Saturday, May 7th
Gallery 339
NE corner of 21st & Pine Streets
Five Star Parking Garage is located between 20th and 21st Streets on Lombard Street
http://gallery339.com/html/
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