What is art if not a study of light? This is a question I have grappled with for many years, since taking Photography classes in high school. It seems to me that most traditional art forms are about just that, and those that are not intrinsically about it are often shaped by it.
There are many artists that experiment with these ideas in their daily work, one of which is New York’s own Kumi Yamashita. I call her work “shadow sculpture”, because that seems to be the best way to describe it.
Some of these images you might have to enlarge in order to get the full effect, you can do so by simply clicking on them. Sculpture is about so much more than just form and (sometimes) function. Sculpture, being an object made in three dimensions and standing in a space, casts shadows. Kumi’s artwork takes the actual artwork out of the equation, and makes the artwork about the casting of light and the casting of shadows.

I am always searching for new ways of making art, because if we don’t continue to experiment and find new processes then art becomes rote. Kumi Yamashita is on to something here, I think that much is obvious. As I said, she is not the only artist working in “shadow sculpture” and I encourage you to seek out the work of Tim Noble and Sue Webster (who make shadow art from recycled materials), among others.




















