Yamashita Kumi is a Japanese artist based in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. She was born in 1968 in Takasaki, Japan, and then relocated to the United States in high school as part of an exchange student program.
Yamashita received her
Bachelor of Fine Arts
A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases.
Background
The Bachelor ...
in 1994 from
Cornish College of the Arts
Cornish College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art college in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1914.
History
Cornish College of the Arts was founded in 1914 as the Cornish School of Music, by Nellie Cornish (1876–1956), a teacher of pi ...
in Seattle, Washington and completed her
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...
in 1999 from the
Glasgow School of Art
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...
in Scotland.
The artist is best known for her light and shadow sculptures constructed from everyday objects.
Kumi first starts with photographing real models to begin understanding the different poses she works with. She expresses the importance of shadow manipulation and outline. The next steps into her work then is to sketch the composition out and develop the sense of space since placement is integral in each piece. ''Constellation Mana'' is from a series of portraits called "Constellation". Each of the works in this series is created by winding a single black thread around
galvanized
Galvanization or galvanizing ( also spelled galvanisation or galvanising) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are submerged ...
brads on a white board. The dark areas are produced solely by densely wound and overlapping thread.
This technique is seen in the enlarged photograph of ''Constellation Mana''.
Awards
* 2014 – Crystal Kirin Award, Beijing, China
* 2014 – Special Merit Award, WAH Center, New York City
* 2000 – Kirin Art Award Special Recognition Second Prize, Japan
* 1995 – Betty Bowen Art Award Special Recognition, Washington, USA
References
External links
The artist's websiteKumi Yamashita Biography on Widewalls
Living people
Cornish College of the Arts alumni
Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art
20th-century Japanese women artists
20th-century Japanese artists
21st-century Japanese women artists
21st-century Japanese artists
Year of birth missing (living people)
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