Kumi Yamashita the Great Shadow Artist

Kumi Yamashita is a famous Japanese shadow artist born in 1968. She works out of a small studio in New York City. Her other signature art styles include rubbing, warp & wet and constellation. She has ten exhibitions in the United States, two in the United Kingdom, one in Germany and one in Japan. Her works sell anywhere from $5,000-$20,000. Although there is little public information about her personal life, she has revolutionized shadow art by turning ordinary objects into extraordinary silhouettes.

Light and shadow bring Kumi Yamashita's work to life, literally! Most of her shadow work are images of people or animals. She strategically manipulates different types of materials such as paper, fabrics, metals and everyday house hold items to appear life-like when a light is shone on the piece. Viewing her displays are almost like looking at ghosts, but not in a scary way. They are more like memories frozen in time. 

The photo above is a picture of Yamashita's shadow art called City View. It is housed in an office building in Osaka, Japan. She has placed dozens of aluminum letters on the wall to create a silhouette of a woman. She is looking over a balcony at the people in the lobby who come and go. 

This photo is another one of Yamashita's shadow works called Building Blocks. She uses several toy blocks to create a silhouette of a person walking. This display is housed in the Collection of Boise Art Museum in Idaho.  

This display is called Fragments. If you look closely, you can see that each face is unique. It is made up of 40 resin tiles slightly bent to create silhouettes of different people the artist met in Pueblo, New Mexico. Kamashita says, "It is both a testament and celebration of the people whose names may never make it into the history books or history museums, but who definitely make up the rich fabric of life in pueblo, city, county, and state", (Kamashita). This display is one of my personal favorites. Not only does it show case her creativity, but it is a beautiful, timeless gesture to ordinary people who do extraordinary things. This display really captures what her work is all about.

Works Cited

"Kumi Yamashita." Kumi Yamashita. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Yamashita, Kumi. Building Blocks. 1997. Wood, single light. Collection of Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho.

Yamashita, Kumi. City View. 2003. Aluminum numbers, single light. Namba Parks Tower, Osaka, Japan.

Yamashita, Kumi. Fragments. 2009. Cast Resin, light source. Permanent Collection of New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico.