EMON would like to announce a solo exhibition by Motoki , entitled Sumo. This is the first solo exhibition by this exciting young artist, whose photographic portrayal of homeless dogs received the reviewer award last year at the Onaeba Vol. 12 Photo Fair in Yokohama. Shifting subject from dogs to sumo wrestlers, Motoki’s distinctive approach remains, capturing the subject from directly in front and with passion, controlling the shutter instinctively to capture the chance peculiarities of the wrestlers’ colliding bodies with a sense of tension and throbbing movement. Motoki’s scenes contain a mystique that draws the viewer deep into the world of sumo, to a place profound and previously unseen. An abundance of photographs exist that take sumo as subject. However not many capture this subject sublimely enough to exist as fine art. EMON invites one and all to view Motoki’s wrestlers that float up out of the darkness with a somehow dubious nudity, together with a mesmerizing plasticity.

［作家コメント］
Once every year ritual sumo matches are held at Yasukuni Shrine in honor of the gods. Last May I went to see these matches. It was the first time for me to witness live sumo. This authentic sumo was a strange thing for me to behold. Silent and expressionless, the wrestlers did not appear human. And the sight of their naked, clashing bodies was somehow sacred, mystical. It was my wish to try and express in photo the divinity I felt then.

［作家プロフィール］
MOTOK

1961 Born in Niigata prefecture, Japan
Graduated from the Tokyo University of Science, School of Engineering, in Physics

Group Exhiitions
2013 March Robert Adachi Seminar Completion Exhibition

Solo Exhibitions
2013 October Onaeba Vol. 12 Pictorico Award Exhibition, NORAINU, iia Gallery

Awards
2013 February Onaeba Vol. 12 Pictorico Award/My Book Award/Reviewer Award (EMON Photo Gallery)
2013 September Japan Photo Award: Harada Tomohiro Award

Magazines
2013 April Gekkan Cameraman: The Cameraman Frontline