Honesty is the greatest fidelity at Yamakiwa Gallery / Tokamachi, Niigata

Honesty
is the greatest fidelity 

Zehra Arslan, Robin von Einsiedel, Motoko Ishibashi

26th November 2016 – 25th February 2017
Yamakiwa Gallery

Kamiebiike, Matsunoyama, Toukamachi-shi 

Niigata, JAPAN 942-1426


Zehra
Arslan





Robin
von Einsiedel



Motoko
Ishibashi







Zehra
Arslan






Motoko Ishibashi

Zehra
Arslan







Robin
von Einsiedel







Robin
von Einsiedel



Motoko
Ishibashi







 Robin
von Einsiedel

Zehra
Arslan and Robin von Einsiedel









Yamakiwa Gallery is pleased to present Honesty Is
the Greatest Fidelity, an exhibition of new works by Zehra Arslan,
Robin von Einsiedel and Motoko Ishibashi, completed during their residency in
Tokamachi, Japan. The exhibition will feature various bodies of work: from
site-specific installations, paintings and two new video pieces. HITGFwill also
feature a talk at S.Y.P Art Space in Tokyo, reflecting on the artists’ time in
Tokamachi. A screening of ‘the ballad opera’, a new video piece,
followed by a discussion on distortive narrative methods as a depiction tool of
contemporary landscape and culture, will take place on the 28th of
November.



Tokamachi
(on love, politics and nature)

Dear Tony, Elisabeth and Catherine,

I guess the works are trying to investigate a kind of
transient way to claim space without necessarily occupying it. I was thinking
of rhythm a lot and the rhythmicality of things. This could be in terms of
walking as an investigative tool to generate content. The undressing of the
landscape made me think of honesty as an instrument to digest
and construct ideas. The thought of a kind of transparency, ghostlike presence
of the work kept recurring. I also thought I wanted this whole thing to be more
of a handshake than a hug. Does this make sense? I wanted the work to be there
without claiming any occupancy. I guess we are looking at the intersection of
various forms of history through repetition. The pieces become in a way fixed
foreign bodies or parts of bodies, which are pushed into the background. Almost
resting, pausing and reflecting on the space they’re in. I didn’t want there to
be any surprises. You know what the problem is with surprises? That it is
evidence of an unwitting neglect of one another, and ourselves.

                           Text by
Zehra
Aslan