Yukinori Yanagi (Fukuoka, 1959) lives and works on the Japanese island of Momoshima, far from the public eye, despite being one of the most influential contemporary Japanese artists. In 1993, he was invited to his first international exhibition, the 45th Venice Biennale, where he presented hundred seventy colored sand flags that crumbled day by day due to the unremitting work of thousands of live ants. Now, after thirty-two years, Yanagi returns to Italy with a major exhibition.
Known for exploring complex issues of sovereignty, globalization, and borders through large-scale, site-specific installations, the artist often delves into Japanese history whilst confronting universal themes of nationalism, the impact of modernization and technology on society. His modus operandi evokes the intricate systems of symbolic imagery and preconceived notions of political and national oppression, challenging their immobility and dissolving them into organic forms that are inherently mutable.
From 1988 to 1990 Yanagi studied at the Yale University where he was a student of Vito Acconci and Frank Gehry and, in this period, he was struck by conceptual art. He then left the United States in the 2000s to return to Japan where he continued developing his artistic practice whilst maintaining "wandering as a permanent position" as a recurring idea. This paradox evokes a sense of constant movement and change – often suggested in his work by the employment of organic and living materials – at the same time, this is contrasted against the permanence and stability of fixed, seemingly unchanging symbolic images.
Yukinori Yanagi has exhibited his work at many leading institutions, including Tsunagi Museum, Kumamoto (2019); Bank-ART 1929, Tokyo (2016); Inujima Art House Project, Okayama (2010); Inujima Seirensho Art Museum, Okayama (2008); Fukuoka Art Museum (2005); Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (2000); University Art Gallery, University of California, Irvine (1998); Chisenhale Gallery, London, Beaver College Art Gallery, Philadelphia, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia (1997); Capp Street Project, San Francisco (1996); Queens Museum of Art, New York, Kirin Plaza Osaka, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, University Art Museum, University of California at Santa Barbara (1995); Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, Japan (1992); Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions – LACE (1991).
His work has also been included in numerous group exhibitions, such as Setouchi Triennale, Japan (2022); Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, Saudi Arabia (2021); 21. Biennale of Sydney (2018); Yokohama Triennale, Japan (2017); Busan Biennale, South Korea (2016); Liverpool Biennial (2012); Fukuoka Triennale, Japan, Gwangju Biennale (2002); Whitney Biennial, New York (2000); Biennale de Lyon (1997); Asia-Pacific Triennial, Brisbane (1996); Nagoya International Biennial, Japan; Venice Biennale (1993).
