TARO NASU is pleased to present “I trust only the rib, after all, you know?" by Yosuke Bandai. This is his first solo exhibition at TARO NASU.

Born 1980 Tokyo, Japan, Yosuke Bandai currently Lives and works in Tokyo. Recent solo exhibitions include "Disordered Bandai; His Unequalled Passion" AI KOWADA GALLEY (2010), "Radicon" at Hiromi Yoshii(2009), "reunion" at Hiromi Yoshii (2007) "High atomospheric pressure ↑"　BankART Studio NYK(2006). Bandai's major group shows include "After the Reality 2" Daichi Projects, New York, "tinyvices", colette Paris, 40 years anniversary of ETORO, a fashion company "ETRO ART CIRCUS", Yoyogi Olympic Plaza, Tokyo, "SECRET PHANTOM II""HELLO! MIHOKANNO", Tokyo Wonder Site 

In his series "the lid on the hole" which shows photographs of sculptures made of illegally disposed garbage or in the "sunrize" series showing the surroundings of his house taken by a scanner, Yosuke Bandai took the "photo" as his medium and tried to embody the image of intuitively known self. 

As the globalization has pushed on fast, the borders of culture, people, religion and the state has been blared and we lost the "myth" which is the base of our own identity. In the present it becomes a bigger problem for us when answering the question of "who we are?". 

From this point of view, Bandai's activity can be seen as if he tries to create his own "myth" on his own base. The sculptures of "the lid on the hole" series are working as a form of religious sculpture or even an altar relating to the "myth". Bandai himself speaks of this technique as an approach to make clear his sacrificed pathos. Though, the sculptures made of garbage are a discovery of identity which can also be seen as an existence in form of an altar for asking for a modern way of salvation and say a prayer to his own God. 

In this context, this action could also bear one form of a religious ritual. The latest art series constructed of images and texts of existence and the creation of the context of fragments of the memory are searching for the myth. 

Bandai uses photographs consequently as his main expression. In this scenery, the certainty faced by the photograph as a medium and the photographed object can be seen as the nature of photography. For Bandai taking photographs is an action to prove the certainty of existence. More than that, it is also an action to turn the so called "myth" fantasy into reality. 

*image (left)
Yosuke Bandai
untitled, 2008
courtesy of Taro Nasu