The shadow of a small person stands still on the horizon line. A person walks on a roof. A leaf floats on water and light glistens from it. The place in Japan closest to space, Mt. Fuji—what’s visible from its peak.

Small space and big space, going back and forth between the microscopic and macroscopic with an original point of view, NOGUCHI Rika photographs a world overflowing with wonderment. Choosing a subject that touches upon the riddle of the planet and its human dwellers, with the transparent quality of her color palette and elegance, she demonstrates a power of expression that is rich in poetic sentiment, garnering high praise both in Japan and abroad. When NOGUCHIi started exhibiting her work in the first half of the 1990s in Japan, use of compact cameras was broadly adopted, affecting big changes in photography. This time was considered to be a new generation for photographers to emerge. Among these new artists, Noguchi got a lot of attention from early on for her independent style and photographs that pursue the domain of sight. In the almost twenty years of artistic activity since, her work has been exhibited in many international contemporary art exhibitions.

The stance of NOGUCHI’s creative process is to approach the freeness of photography as a medium, which relates to the eager quest of the new work included in this current exhibition.

The riddle that is concealed in the reality before our eyes, the strength to approach that and be pliant—the world of Noguchi’s photographs allows the viewer to realize the charm of this world.

This exhibition covers the extent of her career, beginning with her early work, Record of Creation, which can be considered NOGUCHI’s launching point, previously unreleased work, as well as new work.

Rika Noguchi’s world, wherein she uses the camera apparatus as a pencil and continues to pursue her uniquely photographic “light paintings.”

NOGUCHI Rika
NOGUCHI Rika was born in Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, 1971. Lives and Works in Berlin. Major solo or two-person exhibitions include The Light: MATSUMOTO Yoko/NOGUCHI Rika (The National Art Center, Tokyo, 2009); I Dreamt of Flying: Noguchi Rika (Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 2004); MIMOCA'S EYE VOL.1: NOGUCHI RIKA a feeling of something happening (Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa, 2001). Major group exhibitions include 55th Carnegie International: Life on Mars (Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, U.S.A. , 2008–9); The Door into Summer-The Age of Micropop (Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, 2007); Commonscape: Photography Today, Views of the Everyday (The Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai, 2004); YokohamaToriennale 2011 (Aug.6–Nov. 11, 2011).

* The text provided by IZU PHOTO MUSEUM.

Period: Sunday, September 11, 2011 - Sunday, March 4, 2012
Venue: IZU PHOTO MUSEUM