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Surprising New Origami and Shadow Art by Kumi Yamashita

New York based Japanese artist Kumi Yamashita, featured here, creates unique pieces of art using everyday objects and materials like paper and plastic. Among her most notable and surprising works are her Light-shadow series, where materials are arranged in relation to a single light source to reveal the true subject in the shadows. Opening on September 11th, Yamashita will exhibit a variety of new works in a solo exhibition at Art Front Gallery in Tokyo. In addition to her popular shadow art, she will present a series inspired by origami, the art of folding.

New York based Japanese artist Kumi Yamashita, featured here, creates unique pieces of art using everyday objects and materials like paper and plastic. Among her most notable and surprising works are her Light-shadow series, where materials are arranged in relation to a single light source to reveal the true subject in the shadows. Opening on September 11th, Yamashita will exhibit a variety of new works in a solo exhibition at Art Front Gallery in Tokyo. In addition to her popular shadow art, she will present a series inspired by origami, the art of folding. Made of cups and plastic-like polycarbonate sheets, Yamashita’s works combine the craft she learned as a child with modern design. Unlike in traditional Japanese origami, which focuses on the folded form, it is the patterns revealed during unfolding that most inspires her. We can see the influence of these patterns in other works, like her portraits made entirely of a single, unbroken sewing thread. There is a celestial quality to them, as if Yamashita designed her subjects after the constellations of stars. They are like an allegory to the artist herself, who relies on elements of the universe like light to bring her art to life.

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