In Time Medium, Hamaguchi uses a pinhole camera, a simple and primitive method, to record on photographic paper the entire process of painting a vase. With the vase motif, Hamaguchi makes reference to the double meaning of the Japanese word “yaku” (焼く), which means both “to fire” (as in firing ceramics) and “to develop” (as in developing photographs in the darkroom). The vases do not take shape within the paintings themselves, which are created using a single shade of black paint that the artist mixes, but become visible in the photographs that capture the process. The vase, a timeless form which has been created in countless shapes by human hands since ancient times and again represented here, points to a universal, almost spiritual ritual of production. Through the act of revealing invisible forms by documenting them in photographs, Hamaguchi’s practice becomes a prayer for conjuring the image of an invisible being.
KYOKO HAMAGUCHI (b. 1989) is a conceptual mixed-media artist from Tokyo, Japan, currently based in New York City. She received her MFA from Hunter College in New York in 2020, and her BFA from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2015. Hamaguchi’s work has been exhibited internationally in solo shows at ATM Gallery (New York), KOKI ARTS (Tokyo), The Border Project Space (New York), and F2T Gallery (Milan). She has participated in group shows at Christie's (New York), The Florence Trust (London), the Asia Culture Center (Gwangju, Korea), AIG (Hong Kong), Off Paradise (New York), SPRING/BREAK Art Show (New York), the Museum of Modern Art, Gunma (Gunma, Japan), and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Tokyo). Hamaguchi has participated in prestigious artist residencies, including Light Work (2024) and the Watermill Center (2021).
