As part of a series called Fragments, New York City-based Artist Kumi Yamashita projects light onto manipulated materials such as origami paper and cast resin to create shadows of human faces.
“I sculpt using both light and shadow. I construct single or multiple objects and place them in relation to a single light source,” explained Yamashita. “The complete artwork is therefore comprised of both the material and the immaterial.”
“Even when I was young I enjoyed making objects and all through my schooling and various art classes I had to create and make three-dimensional sculpture,” said Yamashita. “So it was a form with which I was already familiar and enjoyed.”
Yamashita has been commissioned by clients such as American Express and the New Mexico History Museum. Creating 22 shadow profiles of American Express employees for showcase in their New York office, 40 shadow profiles of people that Yamashita met during her travel through New Mexico has been made for the New Mexico History Museum.
“It is both testament and celebration of the people whose names may never make it into the history books or history museums, but who definitely make up the rich fabric of life in a pueblo, city, county, and state,” noted Yamashita.
