Tokihiro Sato: Photo-Respiration
Haines Gallery
San Francisco, CA
6 September – 6 October 2007

by Tonya Warner

The most immediate quality of Sato’s work is that it is atmospheric – he takes scenes that in themselves would be captivating and imbues them with a sense of magic and wonder. His photographic technique revolves around long exposures and the use of light; while the shutter remains open, the artist moves about the scene, flashing a light or using a small mirror to reflect sunlight. The exposure is so long, however, that only the points of light remain to mark his presence and movements. For this exhibition, he has mounted most of the images onto custom light boxes, giving the works a sense of depth while emphasizing his usage of light.

The flashes emphasize both presence and absence – recording traces of the artist’s hand, but not his physical being. These photographs embody a strange dichotomy as they are, in fact, markers of movement and time yet they retain certain qualities of emptiness and timelessness. It is this sort of push and pull that is perhaps what makes Sato’s images most compelling – the frozen quality of the long exposure, the otherworldly marks of the artist.

Sato’s photographs, however, seem so reliant upon a sense of magical wonder that they inevitably shift upon repeated viewing and familiarity. Over time, his pictures seem to become more of a reference to technique and an exploration of the physical qualities of image making, process, and photography as a medium.

http://www.hainesgallery.com/Main_Pages/Artist_Pages/TSAT.work.html

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