COLOSSUS
A Solo Exhibition by Yoshiki Hase
Curated by HOP
18 November 2023 - 7 January 2024
Although I use photography to express myself, I have always been drawn to sculpture and painting more than photography. In sculpture, I feel that looking at the human figure in particular has brought me peace and an astounding inspiration. In this series, which I began to conceive in 2020, I brought my tools into nature to temporarily create my own “landscape with a statue.”
Statues are not natural objects, nor do they perfectly shape the human figure, but they seem to bring “life” to their surroundings and to the landscape, even if they are incomplete, lacking a head or a body part.
Humans try to control nature as if it were their own, but at the same time, it is humans who find something divine in that same nature and seek a spiritual belonging to it. Human actions are full of contradictions.
By photographing this fictional landscape, I feel as if I am trying to peek a little into a time when humans were able to maintain their serenity and dignity, and at the same time, were not so arrogant as life.
About the Artist
Yoshiki Hase (B.1972 in Kawasaki, Japan)
Based in New York from 2000 until 2007 and currently resides in Tokyo. Using the technique of installing objects of his own making in real landscapes, he creates visionary and pictorial photographic works on the subject of the relationship between space, people, and nature.
His major solo exhibitions include “ENA” (2020, Gallery Main, Kyoto, Japan), “1st Composition” (2020, FASS Art Gallery, Istanbul), “181° – New Dimensions of Nature Landscapes” (2019, River City Bangkok Gallery, Bangkok) Group exhibitions and photo festivals include “Lishui International Photography Exhibition 2019” (Lishui, China), “Dali International Photography Exhibition 2019” (Dali, China), “T3 Photo Festival Tokyo” (2017) And participated in “Daegu Photography Biennale 2023” (Daegu, South Korea) as a main guest artist.
The major awards Hase has received include “The Best Single Photography Award” at “Dali International Photography Exhibition 2019” (Dali, China, with the series 181°), “LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards” (2018, with the series ENA), and “Tokyo International Photography Competition” (2016, with the series First Composition).
