Masato Seto
Binran
Binran
April 2 - May 9, 2009
Project gallery: Lisa Kereszi Fantasies
West gallery: Hellen van Meene
West gallery: Hellen van Meene
The Yancey Richardson Gallery is pleased to present Binran, an exhibition of photographs by Tokyo-based photographer Masato Seto. The exhibition runs simultaneously with an exhibition of the artist's work at Jackson Fine Arts in Atlanta and is accompanied by Seto's fourth monograph, also titled Binran.
Following on his earlier series, Living Room, which featured individuals and their effects squeezed into diminutive Japanese living rooms, and Picnic, comprised of portraits of reclining couples in Tokyo's parks, in Binran Seto once again explores the relationship between an individual and their environment.
Selected from an extensive series taken throughout Taiwan between 2005 and 2008, Masato Seto's photographs present portraits of young women, alluringly dressed and seated alone, in brightly lit glass structures. Known as "betel nut beauties", the women sell binran, a stimulant made from a mixture of lime, binran leaf and areca nut, which when chewed, produces a mild euphoria. Although betel nut consumption is common throughout India and Asia, the distinctive roadside kiosks with their betel nut beauties are unique to Taiwan.
Photographed at night, with floor to ceiling glass walls and brightly colored interiors, the kiosks are fully visible to passerby. Each brilliantly lit mise en scene features a sexily attired young woman seated on a high stool at a narrow counter, facing blankly out into the darkness. The glowing containers suggest aquariums whose decorative inhabitants are on display for visual consumption. Although in practice, binran customers stop on the side of the road and wait for the girls to bring their betel and areca nut to their vehicles, Seto's photographs are devoid of any interaction between buyer and seller, and present the girls as being encased within their peculiar world.
In addition to Binran, Masato Seto has produced four books: Bangkok, Hanoi (1989), Silent Mode (1995), Tooi and Masato (1998), and Picnic, (2006). The exhibition Binran won the 2008 award from The Photography Society of Japan. Seto's work is held in the collections of the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Kawasaki City Museum. Although he has exhibited regularly in Japan, this is the artist's first exhibition in the United States.
Image:
Masato Seto, Untitled, from the Binran series, 2007, 020-005
40 x 50 inch chromogenic print, Signed, titled, dated and editioned on label on verso,
Edition of 6, Also available in 30 x 40 inches, edition of 8
Courtesy of Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
YANCEY RICHARDSON GALLERY
535 West 22nd Street 3rd floor
NY 10011
New York, NY
+1 646-230-9610
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