Artist Salon linked to photographic exhibit titled Steam and Ice, by artist Hiroyo Kaneko, currently on view at the Poppy.

Contemporary Landscape Traditions in Japan

Please join us for an evening with Bay Area artist Hiroyo Kaneko in conversation with Lisa Sutcliffe, assistant curator of photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art . They will be discussing Kaneko’s first solo exhibition at the Red Poppy: Steam and Ice.

The exhibition presents two series, both examining human rituals and  complex relationships to the landscape. In Sentimental Education, the artist photographed herself and her family relaxing in the hot springs on the outskirts of Tokyo. These intimate photographs, soft in color and rich in atmosphere, quietly examine a time-honored ritual of renewal.

More recently, the artist returned to her hometown of Aomori, in northern Japan to record the everyday activities associated with a harsh winter climate. The third in a series of pictures exploring human rituals associated with seasons, this work emphasizes her interest in a deep understanding of the complex ways in which we are shaped by nature even as we attempt to control it.

Tracing the thread of landscape photography in Japan, the discussion will offer a historical context for Kaneko’s work followed by a conversation with the artist. Sutcliffe and Kaneko will discuss various approaches in contemporary Japanese photography, from the analytic examinations of Naoya Hatakeyama to the more formal explorations of Toshio Shibata and attempt to draw out the themes these artists share.