Ryuta Arakaki
“ Sweep ”
2015Excellence Award
ARTIST STATEMENT
Sweep
All things that come in contact with our vision and consciousness, amid the repetitions of moments, are transient, and photographing these things makes them ever the more transient. My aim with this collection was to cast the images that well up within me, the images that enter my gaze, into the subconscious soup of others. When people view my photographs, it is just as gratifying for me as when I took the photographs. On occasions, as we live, an overwhelming something descends on us like a thunderbolt from a non-subjective place. I take photos to fully enjoy those most fleeting instants of lightning strikes.
Entries form: Book (254 x 305 mm) with 48 prints on inkjet paper (thick Baryta paper)
Selecting judge: Tomoko Sawada
I didn't fancy the corduroy cover, but I understood how polished the photos were right away when I opened the book and saw the vivid, commanding image, apparently a self-portrait, on the first page. The works, although not great in number, are very carefully edited with rich, forceful imagery. Many works of this type are inhabited by a sense of déjà vu, but I didn't find this in his works. The artist has given us images I've never seen before.
There is a forward-looking optimism in his capacity to imagine and in the power emanating from the works. It was with great hope that I selected this collection.
PROFILE
Ryuta Arakaki
| 1988: | Born in Okinawa Prefecture Graduated from Okinawa International University (studied abroad in California while enrolled at Okinawa International |
| 2012: | Studies under Yoshiaki Toda (employed at Piledriver) |
2015Excellence Award