Thomas Demand Book Signing & Exhibition at Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo

Taka Ishii Gallery

In Tokyo for Exhibition

Thomas Demand Book Signing at Daikanyama Tsutaya Books

Thomas Demand, a leading German artist, visits Japan. A book signing for his latest work, "Blossom," will be held on May 19 (Tuesday) at Daikanyama Tsutaya Books.

Text by YANAKA Tomomi

Sign Latest Book, a Collaboration with Poet Ben Lerner

Born in Munich in 1964, Thomas Demand is known for his large-scale photographic and video works that seem to peer into crime scenes. He recreates these scenes at full scale using colored paper and cardboard, based on photographs and footage of historical and social events cited from major media, and then photographs them.

Demand's work, which examines the power and mechanics of images, is skillfully suggestive of the current era where reality is increasingly dominated by projected images, as these images are instantly distributed worldwide via the internet and behave as if they are reality itself.

Demand's solo exhibition, "Model Studies (Kōtō-ku)," will be held at Taka Ishii Gallery, which has relocated to Kit-Sando, from May 23 (Saturday) to June 27 (Saturday). Demand will visit Japan for this exhibition. A book signing, his first solo event, will be held to commemorate the publication of his latest work, "Blossom."

"Blossom," recently published by the British publisher MACK, is a collaborative work featuring texts by Thomas Demand and American novelist and poet Ben Lerner. The image of "Blossom"—meticulously crafted from paper—is said to relate to a photograph of Katherine Russell, the wife of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013, which was published in The New York Times on May 4, 2013.

Demand's work, photographed and deconstructed, draws viewers into a virtual world distinct from the reality before them. When combined with Lerner's text, new interpretations emerge. This is a rare opportunity to have Demand personally sign a work that marks a new direction for him.

"Blossom"
Authors: Thomas Demand, Ben Lerner
Publisher: MACK
Specifications: 310 × 240 mm, 64 pages, color
Price: ¥11,880

Publication Commemorative Book Signing
Date: May 19 (Tuesday)
Time: 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Venue: Daikanyama Tsutaya Books, Building 2, 1F Art Floor
17-5 Sarugaku-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Tel. 03-3770-2525
Eligible Books: "Blossom" only

Thomas Demand Exhibition "Model Studies (Kōtō-ku)"
Dates: May 22 (Friday) – June 27 (Saturday) *Closed Sundays, Mondays, and public holidays
Time: 12:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Venue: Taka Ishii Gallery
B1, 3-10-11 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Tel. 03-5646-6050