Shoji Kato

My Marks
Prelude

 

 

In the first and second weeks of October 2008, Galleri Bergman presents Shoji Kato's new works as an installation-setting arranged to the uniqueness of the gallery space. The works consist of photographs and paintings. This is his first solo show in Helsinki and titled "My Marks: prelude" This show is the first half part of the series, and second part will be shown in Gallery Huuto, Helsinki, in February 2009. Following is the artist's text for the exhibition.

 

 

How do you make your marks?

My interest in the relationship between personality and environment brought my camera into spaces marked, not by vandalism or revolt, but by freedom of expression. The spaces embrace innumerable individual marks on the walls, doors and an outdoor field, that portray body collectives. The photographed situations reveal the cultures embedded within particular settings, for example the markings of bored police officers killing time while guarding an embassy. But they also indicate something universal about human nature. The images, I hope, provide openings into the mysterious coordination of human imagination, memory and desire with our immediate surroundings.

 

 

Another part of the installation is a group of rather small and meticulous paintings inspired by the photographed situations. Yet they are pure abstractions, reflecting the sublime within the banal event: transforming diversity into singularity. My approach to image making echoes the process caught in the photographs, as my own marks are diffused into this gallery space.