Hiromi Yoshii is pleased to announce a new exhibition by duo artist group, Mai Yamashita + Naoto Kobayashi. 

Mai Yamashita (born in 1976) and Naoto Kobayashi (born in 1974) are a Japanese artist couple who met at high school and started working together officially in 2001. After graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts, they moved to Germany. Since then, they have been living and working in Berlin and Tokyo.

The simple structure and humor in their methodology turns the seemingly impossible dream into reality and their work is a condensation of everyday life. In Candy (2005), for instance, the duo licked a huge ball of candy every day over six months until it had been reduced to normal size. In Infinity (2006), Yamashita + Kobayashi jog day after day over a course in the shape of the sign for infinity (∞), slowly inscribing itself on the grass. Their sincere attitude towards these seemingly purposeless duties contains a touch of humor and at the same time makes viewers reconsider about many rituals without meaning in their daily lives.

*image (left)
courtesy of the artist and Hiromi Yoshii