Yuji Hamada - Photographs London Wednesday, May 15, 2019 | Phillips

Photographs

London Auction 16 May 2019

  • Catalogue Essay

    For cube, offered here, Yuji Hamada chose the Rubik's Cube as his motif and created nine unique prints using the Polaroid emulsion-lift technique. His meticulous image-making process involves immersing Polaroids in water to lift off separately the cyan, magenta and yellow emulsion layers, which he then overlays in different combinations onto watercolour papers. ‘It is tough working with sensitive, skin-thin layers,’ explains Hamada, ‘but overlaying the different coloured layers makes me feel as though I’m silkscreen printing.’ Hamada’s playful interpretation of the iconic 3-D puzzle epitomises his continued exploration of colour and shape; his process of deconstructing and reconstructing the original image has resulted in entirely new images. The present work is part of his ongoing C/M/Y series in which he questions the act of seeing through his photographic experimentation. Hamada has published four photobooks – photograph (2014), C/M/Y (2015), BRANCH (2015) and Broken Chord (2017) – and has won several awards, including Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward Competition in 2011 and 2013.

ULTIMATE

50

Yuji Hamada

cube from C/M/Y

2014
Unique work in nine parts, comprising Polaroid emulsions on watercolour papers.
Each image: 10.2 x 7.2 cm (4 x 2 7/8 in.)
Each frame: 27 x 27 cm (10 5/8 x 10 5/8 in.)
Overall: 89 x 89 cm (35 x 35 in.)
Each with process annotations in pencil in the margin; signed, dated in ink, printed title and date on a Certificate of Authenticity accompanying the work.

This work is unique.

Estimate
£10,000 - 15,000 ‡

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Photographs

London Auction 16 May 2019