The Cosmic Prayer

Hosted at the Die Gelbe Wand gallery in Pordenone, The Cosmic Prayer is Gak Yamada’s first European solo exhibition and offers a synthesis of his practice across photography, painting, performance, and sound. The Japanese artist, shaped by travels across Asia and his encounter with Buddhism, develops a visionary language in which photography becomes unstable and transformable matter. The works move through processes of dissolution, painterly intervention, and controlled decay, culminating in installations of light boxes and sound. The exhibition unfolds as an immersive experience where images become perceptual and ritual spaces.

Gak Yamada was born in Ehime Prefecture in 1973 and began his journey in photography, which led him to travel around the world. His experiences in Nepal and India and his encounter with Buddhism represented a turning point, gradually leading him towards painting and a more visionary and interior visual exploration. A decisive turning point came with his discovery of Daido Moriyama's photobook Farewell Photography, which reactivated his relationship with photography and gave rise to a hybrid practice in which photographic images and painting mutually influence each other. From this core, his research expanded to include performance, video, and sound, ultimately defining an increasingly multidisciplinary language centered on perceptual experience. Throughout his career, he has participated in important international contexts, including PARASHOPHIA Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture and KYOTOGRAPHIE, where he participated in artistic residencies in Japan and France and received recognition. Some of his works are also included in contemporary collection projects. Today his research continues between Asia, Europe and the United States as a constant exploration of the relationships between image, sound and perception.