“BURNS/ PUNCTUM/ TAOS” is an exhibition of recent work by Trevor Yokochi, expressed in three separate bodies of practice beginning in 2013. By exploring the beauty in ambiguity, monumentality, and voyeurism, Yokochi uncovers curious ways of mark making and application that evoke feeling within. This collection of work radiates personal reflections of struggling and perceptions of the human condition.

In the BURNS body of work Yokochi applies cigarettes to mark and puncture a variety of materials, each responding to the burn in its own way. Beginning with paper, he burned one hole for every cigarette he smoked during a difficult period in his life — using this practice both meditatively, to mark the passing time, and as a sort of intimate personal diary.

PUNCTUM is a collection of paintings exploring monolithic form in relation to color, space, and ambiguity. Roland Barthes coined the word “punctum” in his last major work, Camera Lucida, as that feeling when something pierces the heart and makes the spectator feel intensely emotional about it — ‘that accident which pricks, bruises me.’ Punctum is the rare detail that attracts you to an image, ‘its mere presence changes my reading, that I am looking at a new photograph, marked in my eyes with a higher value.’: As a result, the spectator-viewer feels a need to interpret the accident as intention, and to guess the implicit meaning behind the image.

TAOS are collective memories and concentrations from Yokochi’s visit to Taos, New Mexico. There is a special bond between artist and land.

ARTIST BIO

Trevor Yokochi’s works have been shown at Doolin Galley in Meadows School of the Arts and at Good Space in Bishop Arts. Yokochi earned a BFA in Studio arts from Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University.

One of his favorite quotes by one of his favorite artists: “My line is childlike but not childish. It is very difficult to fake… to get that quality you need to project yourself into the child’s line. It has to be felt.” (Cy Twombly)