"Uptown Bound" by Masayo Nishimura

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Masayo Nishimura
Uptown Bound
Photography


March 24 – April 18 2009
Opening Reception, Thursday, March 26th, 6pm - 8pm

Ceres gallery is pleased to present Masayo Nishimura’s Uptown Bound, a solo exhibition of Nishimura’s photographs. The Opening Reception will take place on Thursday, March 26th from 6pm until 8pm. The artist will be present.

This exhibition features Nishimura’s Uptown Bound series of color photographs of the lights and shadows created by New York City subway architecture in which the roofs of cars and tracks are bathed in light from the street level, looking quiet, beautiful, and reminiscent of Medieval religious paintings. Nishimura captures a fascinating moment created by this everyday environment.

Nishimura began studying photography in 1993. From the beginning she was attracted to the lights and shadows created by subway architecture, especially the way the cars and tracks are bathed in light from the street. She always marveled at the effects produced. Down in the station, Nishimura often felt as if she were inside a huge fish tank, with blurry passengers and cars floating by in the depths. Illuminated by artificial light, everything looked quiet and detached from reality. The lighting often created dreamlike shadows, sometimes creating ghostly effects. Nishimura was always fascinated with those surreal images.

Nishimura used a 35mm SLR camera for the first few years. Then in Fall 1999, she experimented with a rented Hasselblad and B & W film. Since it was a medium format camera and difficult to operate by hand, she installed a tripod with cable release on the platform. Instead of using a flash, she used a long exposure and a slow shutter speed to capture the transforming contours of shadows over time. In April 2000, Nishimura visited the station again with the same Hasselblad, this time using color film. It was a sunny Sunday morning and she felt as if the lighting from the street level looked perfect. Just as she had done before, she set up her tripod on the platform and pressed the cable release. Nishimura continued to press the cable release for about thirty minutes until a policeman interrupted her. The results of that half- hour's work developed quite beautifully and she felt blessed.

The images Nishimura captured that morning were first exhibited in a group show which opened at the SoHo Photo Gallery in Tribeca on Thursday, September 6th, 2001. On the fifth day of the exhibition, Tuesday September 11th, she woke up late and saw that the Twin Towers had been destroyed by terrorists and had disappeared from the skyline. Now these works remind her of the innocence of New York City before 9/11, the city Nishimura has loved so dearly since she moved here two decades ago.

About Masayo Nishimura:
Masayo Nishimura is a native of Osaka, Japan. In 1986, she moved to New York to study dance. In 1993, she began her study in photography at CUNY Hunter College under Professor Mark Feldstein, where she discovered her visual interest in NYC subway stations. She also took several workshop classes at the School of Visual Arts & the International Center of Photography. Since then her subway-themed photographic works have been exhibited in various galleries in New York City. In 1999, she earned her Master of Fine Arts in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts. Her thesis film, "Dream" – a subway love story has been screened worldwide and won various awards including New York regional finalist of the 27th Student Academy Awards. In 2000, "Dream" was screened at the Museum of Modern Art as an official selection of the "New Directors/New Films festival" sponsored by the Cinema Society of Lincoln Center and MOMA. In 2000, she started working on a series of color photographs of the lights and shadows created by subway architecture. The work titled “Uptown Bound” has continued to receive rave responses from viewers.


For more information please contact Stefany Benson, Director at :
Ceres Gallery
547 West 27th St Suite 201 New York, NY 10001
phone and fax: 212-947-6100
art@ceresgallery.org
http://ceresgallery.org/
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12pm - 6pm and Thursday 12-8pm.

Masayo Nishimura:
mniart@aol.com
http://multisoup.com/exhi3.html