Aki Lumi's Networks: Photography and Drawing at Galerie Zeit-Foto Salon

From September 6 to 30, 2005, Galerie Zeit-Foto Salon in Tokyo presented an exhibition of works by Japanese artist Aki Lumi, featuring three series: 'The Garden' (landscape photographs), 'Mechanics' (engine photographs), and 'Trace' (pen drawings). The drawings, made with rulers and compasses, resemble architectural or mad scientist plans. Lumi's photographs are digitally manipulated: for 'Mechanics,' he started with a space shuttle engine photo, enhancing iridescence, contrast, and reflections, and applying candy-like colors (orange, pink, blue, green). For 'The Garden' (black and white), he overlaid architectural photos with composite landscapes, suggesting a human grid underlies pseudo-natural vegetation. The drawings, which have no prescribed hanging orientation, are built from nothing using tools. All works explore systems of organization and chaos, blurring inside and outside, and evoke both circuit boards and blood vessels. The exhibition aimed to juxtapose these two processes—photographic manipulation and generative drawing.