Diesel Denim Gallery, Tokyo
Closes Nov. 8
The two naked women possess endless limbs and long blond hair — but there ends any similarity with conventional ideals of feminine beauty.
For their bodies are crowned not with pretty faces but pointy green masks from which their tresses sprout in an alienlike fashion.
Welcome to the futuristic world of Timothy Saccenti, the American photographer whose first solo exhibition "Garden of Unearthly Delights" is on display at the Diesel Denim Gallery in Aoyama, Tokyo.
Famous for cult music videos for artists ranging from Animal Collective to Erykah Badu and with two decades of commercial photography experience, Saccenti charts a classic quest for life's meaning within a sci-fi context.
In a video projection and a series of photograph panels, the artist tells the tale of a woman in possession of a perfect body (and an apparently empty wardrobe) "lost" in a tangle of neon.
Upon meeting her pregnant doppelganger, the pair indulge in a mating ritual beside a tree — and their Garden of Eden union results in the birth of a bird-baby hybrid that flies off in a dazzling blaze of light.
Speaking at the opening, Saccenti, 36, said: "It's a story about a transformative process. It reflects how humans struggle with their identity and how this leads to a transformation into a higher self."
He added: "The style is pop but experimental. And overall? It's a work that's meant to be hopeful."
For more information call (03) 6418-5323. www.diesel.co.jp
