Release Date: May 3,2024
Solo Exhibition Persistence of Vision by Kasumi to Open at Summit Artspace This Summer
Akron, OHIO (May 3, 2024) — Persistence of Vision by internationally-renowned artist Kasumi is one of several exhibitions opening at Summit Artspace on Friday, July 12 from 5-8 p.m. The solo exhibition will be on view in the Betty & Howard Taylor Main Gallery, located on the first floor of Summit Artspace through Saturday, September 14. Summer exhibitions can be visited on Fridays 12 p.m.-7 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
A retrospective of artworks from the late 1990s to present, Persistence of Vision will highlight Kasumi's ongoing dedication to experimentation. While best known for her digital videos and films, Kasumi’s staggering range of methods and media will be on display for this show, as it will include collage, printmaking, painting, installation, and more. Repeated subjects, gestures, and expressions connect the works across the wide variety of media.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the cyclical nature of history and human experience,” reflects Kasumi." This retrospective allows me to reflect on my own artistic journey, evolution, and creative process. It allows me to examine the merging and interconnectedness of different elements and concepts within my work, and at the same time, realize that each mistake I made turned out to be another ‘portal of discovery’ (to paraphrase writer James Joyce).”
“My work is about memory and the echo chambers of memory—a perpetual feedback loop of patterns that creates consciousness,” the artist explains. "The repetition of characters becomes a representation of a specific gesture or emotion creating larger symbols and metaphors, ultimately becoming its own language."
The opportunity to show Kasumi’s work was facilitated by Collective Arts Network (CAN), which selected Summit Artspace to award an Exhibition Prize to one artist featured in the 2022 CAN Triennial. CAN Executive Director, Michael Gill notes: “Of all the programming created as part of CAN Triennial, the Exhibition Prizes are what made me most proud: they deepen relationships with our partners, leverage our resources, and support artists. We're thrilled that Summit Artspace is working with Kasumi to bring her eye-popping and conceptually challenging work to Akron.”
Kasumi was chosen by Summit Artspace staff out of over 100 Northeast Ohio-based artists for her intriguing use of pop culture imagery, especially in her video work. “Kasumi calls us to question dominant culture and to examine our collective actions and values through her compelling use of distorted pop-culture imagery and patterns,” says Director of Artist Resources Natalie Grieshammer Patrick. “Partnering with Kasumi brings an important working artist to Akron and will deepen Summit Artspace's ability to support multimedia artists in future exhibition cycles."
Kasumi is a Cleveland-based digital media artist who uses contemporary technology to create videos and films, immersive installations, prints, and collages. Her work is driven by her interest in conceptualizing the movements, expressions, and gestures from which we construct our current reality. Kasumi’s raw material for her artwork are clips of moving images gathered from the scraps of mid-20th Century mass media and early 80’s Japanese popular culture. The artist’s many accomplishments include the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship; the creation of artworks for institutions like the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, the Lincoln Center, and The Cleveland Museum of Art; gifs for The Eric Andre Show; and interactive art-making apps for smart phones. For more information about Kasumi and to view her artwork, visit kasumifilms.com.