Michael Kenna: Rafu

 

Catherine Couturier Gallery is delighted to present the newest body of work by gallery artist Michael Kenna, entitled Rafu. Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, April 6^th from 6-8 p.m.

Michael Kenna reached international acclaim photographing wild and desolate locations across the globe, always devoid of human presence. In a surprising shift of subject matter, Kenna debuts a series of female nudes made in Japan in a series titled Rafu, the Japanese word for unclothed female.

The project secretly started in 2008, although his interest in nude photography dates back to his years at the London College of Printing in the 1970’s. Michael Kenna allowed models, none of whom were professional and some even posing naked for the first time, to express themselves by finding interesting poses and angles. He treated every shoot as an impromptu event, something of a wordless dialogue between model and photographer as he captured graceful images through tight shots on different parts of the body.

Born in Widnes, England in 1953, Kenna currently lives and works in Seattle, Washington. A retrospective of Michael Kenna’s work, A 45 Year Odyssey, 1973-2018 exhibition, recently opened at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (TOP), Tokyo, Japan. He was awarded the Special Photographer Award in Hokkaido, Japan in 2016. His work has been shown at the Tacoma Art Museum, 2012; Moscow Museum of Modern Art, 2011; Palazzo Magnani Museum in Reggio Emilia, Italy, 2010; and Bibliothèque Nationale de France in 2009. Kenna's photographs are included in many public collections including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Shanghai Art Museum; the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

 

Michael Kenna: Rafu will be on view from April 6^th – May 11^th, 2018

 

Ai, Study 1, 2011
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 5 of 25
$3,000

 

 

 

Ai, Study 4, 2012
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 2 of 25
$3,000

 

 

 

 

Mimi, Study 1, 2017
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 3 of 25
$3,000

 

Mina, Study 3, 2011
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 4 of 25
$3,000

 

Mitsu, Study 1, 2012
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 4 of 25
$3,000

 

Namiko, Study 1, 2016
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 3 of 25
$3,000

 

Namiko, Study 3, 2016
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 7 of 25
$3,000

 

Shoko, Study 1, 2015
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 4 of 25
$3,000

 

Tomomi, Study 1, 2015

 

Uiko, Study 1, 2015
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 2 of 25
$3,000

 

 
Uiko, Study 3, 2015
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 1 of 25
$3,000

 

Uiko, Study 4, 2015
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 5 of 25
$3,000

 

Yayoi, Study 1, 2008
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 8 of 25
$3,000

 

 
Yayoi, Study 2, 2008
Gelatin silver print, signed
8 x 8 inches
Edition 3 of 25
$3,000