shashasha

The “Jikkuri” set bundles three works by Japanese photographer Yumiko Utsu: the photo zines “Iruma & Miiko’s Cabinet of Curiosities” and “yocto” as well as the postcard collection “Rumie-san no Jintai-mokei” (“Ms. Rumie’s Anatomic Model”).

The three publications serve as a brilliant example of Yumiko Utsu’s bizarre work. Listing Czech surrealist animator Jan Švankmajer as one of her inspirations, Utsu creates dense and strangely humorous photographs whose visual freshness and unusual themes continue to excite.
“Iruma & Miiko’s Cabinet of Curiosities” was created as part of an impromptu portrait session with Miiko, whose collection of living animals and weird memorabilia inspired Utsu to shoot a highly imaginative series of portraits and close-ups together with her parter Iruma. The photographs in “yocto” were over the period of one month for an exhibition. Looking back, Utsu describes the images of insects, toys, animals and various patterns as “maniacal, somewhat dark, wild and twisted”. For the postcard series “Ms. Rumie’s Anatomic Model”, Utsu used the anatomical model collected by an antique dealer who lived near to her studio for photographs that explore life and death and the human body.

“Images of naive innocence, scatological humor and direct sexuality make the introduction to Utsu’s world a disturbingly seductive experience.”
― Michael Hoppen Gallery