Gallery B: James Yamada “I am now a dolphin” 

Press Release

Opening: Thursday 13 December 2007 from 7 to 9,30 pm. – from 14 December 2007 to 31 January 2008

James Yamada’s work has always mirrored the relationship between the individual, nature and technology, and the often violent consequences that may derive. The speed and the intrusiveness in which modern technology spreads information is radically modifying our way of relating to the world, confirming the theory of Marshall McLuhan according to which, the message identifies with the medium.

This rapidity of use causes in the individual paranoia and anxiety, as one feels battled between the necessity of adapting to the present state of not being cut out of the system, and the desire to escape. Holism, – deriving from the 60’s and 70’s culture, now very fashionable – with it’s re-appropriation of an interior balance is an example of how the individual utopically believes he can escape disorientation. The same can be said for the appeal to a religious fanaticism that deludes itself of being able to legitimize the idea but instead it turns into in a dominating instrument steered from above, appealing to ignorance and superstition. The works exhibited are an interrogation about existence, or at least, about a possible harmony between the romantic aspiration to a state of grace and the need to adapt to unpredictability of the modern technological landscape.

Starting with the paintings, like the one inspired to the Merimekko fabrics, iconographic emblem of the hippy culture, on which two movement detectors are placed, and like eyes they constantly monitor reality; and still “I am now a dolphin”, reflection on reincarnation as a possibility of redemption. Going through the videos, which investigate idealism, violence, hope, innocence and man’s capability of working out and objectifying historical memory. And finishing with photography, an analysis on the estranging power that the images enact on memory. Facing a wide range of media, Yamada shows the impossibility to harness language in an unambiguous code but also the will to leave to the user a free and totally autonomous choice.