I Am Here To Love

Hannah Traore Gallery is pleased to present I Am Here To Love, the solo exhibition by New York-based Japanese artist Shihori Yamamoto. Marking Yamamoto's first solo presentation with the gallery, the exhibition is a bold new body of work that pairs four intricate ink-based drawings on paper produced between 2019 and 2023 with an immersive womb-inspired dome installation. Yamamoto's interdisciplinary approach, drawing upon her background in architecture and her fascination with physics, psychology, and biology, results in an exhibition as provocative as it is cerebral. I Am Here To Love invites viewers into the artist's own universe: art and science, mind and body, converge along the lines of Yamamoto's personal experience made universal. Yamamoto was born and raised in Yokohama City, Kanagawa, Japan, followed by a period in Tokyo where she studied architecture, and finally in New York for her MFA where she has lived ever since. Her meticulous and ornate line drawings are rendered in ink and liquified red pigment, flowing onto her paper like living organisms. Yamamoto's compositions could resemble a lattice of neural pathways or cosmic constellations, evoking biology at its smallest and largest scales. The works' warm red hues have long been her signature, pulses of life in a grim and perilous world. Methodical and poetic, Yamamoto charts the gamut of forces governing our bodies and the world. Yamamoto's art is also a fearless engagement with her inner landscape and mental health, specifically addressing her experiences with bipolar disorder and autism. She openly and fearlessly channels her lifelong struggle with mental illness into her artmaking, and so it becomes a means of self-therapy and exorcism. Her repetitive and meditative process grapples with such issues as anxiety and insomnia, uplifting private turmoil into tangible moments of catharsis. Each detailed groove speaks to Yamamoto's introspection, and her red eruptions are raw emotions cresting on paper surfaces. She skillfully pairs dichotomies in her works: vulnerability and resilience, light and darkness, chaos and order. By externalizing her internal battles, Yamamoto finds her own solace while opening a door for others, who are led to reflect on their own psychological depths and our shared humanity. The centerpiece is a new installation merging art with architecture: the 14-foot-wide geodesic dome piece, I Am Here to Love (2023). This womb-like sanctuary holds visitors in a private hemisphere adorned with Yamamoto's delicate drawings. The immersive structure is a multisensory experience, featuring a recording of the artist's heartbeat alongside subtle light effects. A refuge of sound and color, it echoes the primordial comfort preceding birth, an ode to the purity and artistry of the beginning of life. Yamamoto's intention is to provide an experience of comfort and healing, physically and psychologically embracing her audience. Other featured works of note include Bloom (04/26/2019, Spring Insomnia), an ode to a sleepless night of sensory overload in April, and Bloom (08/19/2020, Let Them Eat Cake), dedicated to those feeling afraid or alone in a world she describes as "saturated with distress." Yamamoto's artwork transforms spaces into sanctuaries at once intimate and striking, offering her audience a means of rebirth and self-discovery along the artist's innermost paths. For I Am Here To Love, we step inside Yamamoto's mind and heart, joining her on a journey universally resonant in its impact. Shihori Yamamoto (b. 1988) is a New York-based visual artist, originally from Japan. Yamamoto received a Bachelor of Architecture from Musashino Art University (Tokyo, Japan), and a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute (New York, United States). Utilizing her background in architecture, as well as her knowledge in psychology, biology, and astrophysics, Yamamoto creates intricate line drawings, layered mixed media paintings, and architectural installations. Yamamoto’s artwork has been exhibited internationally in the United States, Japan, and Germany. Her recent exhibitions include emmy art+ (Tokyo), NARS Foundation (Brooklyn, NY), BioBAT Art Space (Brooklyn, NY), Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (New York, NY), Pen&Brush Gallery (New York, NY) and Monira Foundation (Jersey City, NJ). Her residencies include Pratt>Forward, Monira Foundation, MHProjectNYC, Residency Unlimited, NARS Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts Immigrant Mentor Program, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, and Vermont Studio Center.

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