野口里佳 Noguchi Rika - Photographs London Wednesday, May 25, 2022 | Phillips

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  • 'I’m looking for the beauty in something that one does not understand, continuing to exist without understanding it.' —Noguchi Rika

    For her seminal series Fujiyama, Japanese artist Noguchi Rika (b. 1971) continues to climb Mount Fuji to capture its surface, atmospheric light and climbers at sunrise. Maintaining a certain distance between herself and her subjects, Noguchi creates a unique perspective that can be seen throughout this compilation of meditative views. In the lyrical tableau, offered here, a single, small silhouette appears to be disappearing into the misty horizon. This quasi-mystical presence at the centre of this ethereal landscape of muted greens evokes spiritual connotations of Mount Fuji as a sacred place. According to Noguchi, this series is ‘a work about prime numbers’ as suggested by its English title A Prime. She draws a parallel between the ongoing quest to understand the mystery behind prime numbers and her own spiritual journey that still continues. Noguchi’s work has been exhibited internationally and resides in a number of prominent institutions, notably the Guggenheim Museum, New York and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, which both hold works from this series.

    • Provenance

      D'Amelio Terras Gallery, New York, 2001

    • Exhibited

      The Light: Matsumoto Yoko/Noguchi Rika, The National Art Center, Tokyo, 18 August - 19 October 2009, another
      Light Reaching the Future, Izu Photo Museum, Shizuoka, 11 September 2011 - 4 March 2012, another
      Collection Exhibition II, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 13 September - 13 October 2014, another

    • Literature

      Seeing Birds, Tokyo: P3 art and Environment, 2001, p. 39
      The Light: Matsumoto Yoko/Noguchi Rika, Tokyo: The National Art Center, 2009, p. 77
      Light Reaching the Future, Shizuoka: Izu Photo Museum, 2011, p. 44

ULTIMATE

42

フジヤマ [Fujiyama] A Prime #1

1997
Chromogenic print, mounted.
Image: 101.6 x 76.2 cm (40 x 30 in.)
Frame: 133.5 x 100 cm (52 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.)

Signed and numbered 4/5 in pencil on the verso.

This work is number 4 from the sold-out edition of 5 + 2 APs. This image exists only in this size and edition. Collection Lambert, Avignon and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa each holds a print from this edition.

Please note that the artist’s name appears in Japanese order with the surname before the forename.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£5,000 - 7,000 

Sold for £63,000

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Photographs

London Auction 25 May 2022