An exploration of vision as lying between reality and memory
One of my primary focuses has been the fact that objects in reality must always pass through perception before they are committed to memory. As long as we view the world from that perspective, it will be impossible to reach a consensus with regard to how certain objects appear. That is because perception is a function of the body, dependent on the organs (ie, separate from congenital or environmental factors. Working from that assumption, it follows that agreement at a communication level can only be obtained using the power of words and symbols, but I will refrain from discussing that topic further).
Vision, height, eye color… the inter-individual relationship between these elements determines gaps in perception that lead finally to differences in memory, boundaries between people that cannot be overcome. My memory does not record at lengths of one tenth, one hundredth or one thousandth. In terms of moments, it likely includes subdivisions as long as one-third. By beginning from the hypothesis that memory is a packaging of these continuous frames of visual information with other various data, including sounds and smells, I am able to arrive at a form of vision that generates unknown landscapes using realistic mechanisms. It is then that my subjects reach their completion. – Toru Tanno –

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Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1968.
Inspired by the ethos of the punk/new wave movement, Toru Tanno began writing poetry in his teens, produced music in the 80’s-90’s, and became heavily involved in rave culture after crossing over to Europe in 1999. Since 2018, Tanno has developed his style to include photographs that possess an intensity that rivals reality, using real-world forms to construct delicate, exquisite fictions that serve as an antithesis to artistic autonomy. Referring to himself as “the mechanism by which the work is created”, he has transformed the artist Toru Tanno into a device that can be remodeled at will, in order to give birth to new works of art.At present, his practice is devoted to the series “Subterranean”, based on his study of perception, the world at large, and the gap that lies between the two. |
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【Selected Solo Exhibitions】 | |
2019 | TORU TANNO: EMACIATED ETERNITY (SEIZAN Gallery, New York) |
2014 | TORU TANNO (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo) |
【Selected Group Exhibitions】 | |
2022 | icon CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY II (AXIS Gallery, Tokyo) NFFT_2022 NEW FUTURE FASHION × TECHNOLOGY (AL Gallery, Tokyo) |
2021 | Exhibition of Time with Chopard (Chopard Boutique Ginza, Tokyo) |
2017 | Yasushi Ikejiri × Toru Tanno (Art Fair Tokyo, SEIZAN Gallery Booth, Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo) |
2016 | Something Precious (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, continued in 2018) |
2013 | Two persons Exhibition “Deconstructing” (NIGHT GALLERY CAFE CROW, Tokyo) |