Efw Presents: Yuko Otomo (with Rob Brown & Daniel Carter) at VBI Theatre at Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center

"Yuko Otomo, a Japanese native who writes in English, has generated a largely ekphrastic oeuvre, one that finds drama in the phenomenology of art rather than its history: the strange play of light on a canvas in a museum, a found poem on the way to a Bruce Nauman retrospective, or her own transience in a world of English speakers. Her unique position allows her to capture art as it is lived and not as it is studied. Her written work defies category and displays a humble recognition of subjectivity, daring to be small and quiet in the presence of mammoth artworks and cities, as well as an uncommon creative confidence in dwelling at the border between language and the visual, while never shying away from their tensions...though best known as a poet, Otomo has an equal devotion to visual art, criticism, and translation that reveals an unbordered spirit, called to art."...

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"Yuko Otomo, a Japanese native who writes in English, has generated a largely ekphrastic oeuvre, one that finds drama in the phenomenology of art rather than its history: the strange play of light on a canvas in a museum, a found poem on the way to a Bruce Nauman retrospective, or her own transience in a world of English speakers. Her unique position allows her to capture art as it is lived and not as it is studied. Her written work defies category and displays a humble recognition of subjectivity, daring to be small and quiet in the presence of mammoth artworks and cities, as well as an uncommon creative confidence in dwelling at the border between language and the visual, while never shying away from their tensions...though best known as a poet, Otomo has an equal devotion to visual art, criticism, and translation that reveals an unbordered spirit, called to art."
– Greg Nissan, Asymptote

Elysium Furnace Works is excited to present in a rare Hudson Valley appearance the multi-disciplinary artist Yuko Otomo. A writer and visual artist whose work demonstrates remarkable range, sensitivity and perspicacity, Otomo, widow of the noted late free-jazz poet Steve Dalachinsky, has long been closely associated with the Downtown New York City musical avant-garde.

For this event, Otomo will be reading from her truly unique work, joined for the first time in performance by her friends and longtime associates in the Downtown scene: alto saxophonist Rob Brown and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter.

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