KANAKO SASAKI | WANDERLUST
September 11 - October 30, 2010
Dina Mitrani Gallery is pleased to present Wanderlust, a solo exhibition by Kanako Sasaki (Japan, 1976) opening on Saturday, September 11, 2010 at 7pm and on view through October 30.
“. . .So we should cast off all gloomy thoughts about our earthy lot and
enjoy the pleasures of snow, moon, flowers and autumn leaves and drinking
wine; living our lives like a gourd bobbing buoyantly downstream. This is the
floating world.” From the novels of c. 1665, Ukiyo Monogatari, “Tales of the
Floating World.
In her series Wanderlust, Kanako Sasaki explores her own imaginative world influenced by traditional Japanese novels, Ukiyo-e paintings and childhood memories. Within her surreal and eccentric settings, Sasaki’s characters, usually herself, evoke ideas of isolation, escape and uninhibited freedom. The juxtaposition of bleak emotion within a fantastical landscape leaves the viewer mesmerized with wonderment. Sasaki’s work also comments on issues such as the female experience, loss of innocence, hopeless romance and how Japanese culture is viewed from the outside.
Kanako Sasaki was educated at the Royal College of Art in London and received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. She has had solo exhibitions in the US, Japan, Bolivia and Hungary and has been included in many international group exhibitions. She has participated in artist residencies in Iceland, Paris, Estonia, Vienna and New York and been awarded many fellowships and grants. She
has also taught photography at CUNY Staten Island, NY and the International Summer School of Photography in Latvia.
