Fine Art PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Fine Art PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

New Pictures: Noriko Furunishi at Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Presented each fall and spring, the “New Pictures” series highlights the vital experimentations in photography and new media undertaken by artists who grapple with making images that address contemporary culture. These exhibitions will be distinguished by their dual focus on presenting cuttingedge artists from around the world, and by helping audiences understand and explore the art-making process. The inaugural exhibition of works by Furunishi will be the artist’s first solo museum exhibition and will run through January 30, 2010.

Noriko FurunishiBorn in Japan and living in Los Angeles, Furunishi uses a large-format 4 x 5 camera to make images of a particular geographical site from multiple perspectives. After scanning the negatives from these images, she digitally stitches them together to create seemingly continuous landscapes, some of which measure over seven feet tall and five feet wide. The vertical orientation of her photographs recalls the complex formal compositions of historical Chinese and Japanese hanging scroll paintings, and provides a contemporary perspective on the MIA’s renowned Asian collection.

Furunishi’s photographs also suggest the visual conditions and technological possibilities of our own time through their subtly warped vistas, which upend preconceptions about the land beneath our feet and the skies overhead. The pictures suggest the grand American landscapes of history, but never pretend to be the “real” thing.

To complement the exhibition, the MIA is launching a “New Pictures” website that includes a video interview with the artist about her work, short essays by the curator of the exhibition, and an interactive blog. The website will not only generate discussion about the show during the exhibition, but will also serve as an ongoing archive of the “New Pictures” series, with information on the art and installation for future historians.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404 • (888) MIA ARTS (642-2787) (Toll Free)

Image: Noriko Furunishi Japanese, born 1966 Untitled (Waterfall), 2007 C-print Courtesy Murray Guy, New York