Izumi Miyazaki: stand-in

Dec.3 - 18, 2016

 

  Art-U room is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Izumi Miyazaki, a young photographer who has received international acclaim for her humorous self-portraits.

 

  Miyazaki’s first proper encounter with photography took place when she casually joined the photography club at her high school. At once entranced by the thrill of being able to make visible the images conjured up by her imagination, Miyazaki went on to enter the Department of Imaging Arts & Sciences at Musashino Art University. She began taking the photos that eventually led to her current style as a result of taking self-portraits in a class during her first year there.

 

  Using as her stage the commonplace cityscape and daily scenes of suburban Tokyo, Miyazaki began posting to Tumblr photos in which she used herself as the subject, completely expressionless. This was in 2012, while she was still in school. Parodying the selfies which proliferated in the public sphere in conjunction with the spread of social media, Miyazaki’s unique selfies seem to expose the falsehoods and nonsense that lurk within our, at first glance seemingly commonplace, daily lives. Her selfies have spread like wildfire on the Internet, transcending international borders and being picked up by traditional media outlets like America’s TIME magazine and the French newspaper Libération. Miyazaki’s art somehow conveys an icy humor. Or, perhaps it reveals an image of ourselves living in a highly controlled society.

 

  For her first solo exhibition in Japan, Miyazaki presents her work in the form of an installation made out to look like a photo studio. The show’s title, “stand-in”, is a reference to a person who stands in for an actor when checking the setup before actual shooting of a movie or TV program, a job that is often performed by one of the studio staff. A famous actor, though, sometimes uses his or her own personal stand-in, someone who closely resembles the actor in height, and hair and skin color. However, no matter how much the stand-in resembles the actor, he or she never appears in the actual production. The stand-in, a fictitious entity in both reality and on film, correlates to some extent with Miyazaki’s selfies—in a sense, the artist serves as her own stand-in.

 

 

■ Izumi Miyazaki

  Born in Yamanashi Prefecture. Graduated from the Department of Imaging Arts & Sciences at Musashino Art University in 2016. While still at university, posted surreal photos on Tumblr using herself as the subject, and became an instant hit on the web. Participated in Comitia, a fair of self-published (dojinshi) manga, and Tokyo Art Book Fair in Japan, and exhibited works at European art fairs. After graduating from university, held her first solo exhibition, “Cute & Cruel”, at the Wild Project Gallery in Luxembourg in June 2016. Scheduled for inclusion in Fondazione Prada’s group exhibition, “Give Me Yesterday”, in Milan, Italy, opening December 2016.

http://izumimiyazaki.tumblr.com

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● Date:  Dec.3 - 18, 2016

    Opening hours:  Mon.-Sat. 12:00-19:00. Sun.12:00-17:00. / closed on Dec.6 and 12

● Opening reception on Dec.2, 18:00-21:00

● Meeting with the artist in weekends throughout the exhibition.

■ Supported by OFF SHOT

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[ Press Release (PDF) ]