Nerhol Japan, b. 1980 & 1981

They live and work in Tokyo, Japan.

Nerhol is an artist unit created by Yoshihisa Tanaka and Ryuta Iida in 2007. The name comes from a mash-up of two words, “neru” to plan ideas and “holu” to sculpt and carve. Tanaka studied at the Department of Scenography, Display and Fashion Design, Musashino Art University; and Iida at the Program in Sculpture, Department of Fine Arts, Nihon University College of Art. Tanaka makes new symbols and types by reconstructing them; Iida works with paper and types as a medium, making sculptures using books.

Their works as Nerhol criticize the perennial cycle of consumption, creation, and obsolescence produced by contemporary economic activities. Nerhol’s latest project involves time lapse photography and paper cutting. The stack of images –multiple portraits of a subject– is sliced through to create a graduated crater effect, showing the passage of time like the rings of a tree.

Among Nerhol solo exhibitions stand out the one at Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan; Yutaka Kikutake Gallery, Tokyo; and Foam Photography Museum, Amsterdam. They also participated in L’Atelier Néerlandais, Paris; Unseen Photo Fair 2014,

Amsterdam; and Festival Images, Switzerland.

www.nerhol.com