San Francisco-based painter Hiroshi Sato will have a solo exhibition at The Barbara Goodman Gallery at Dominican University. Inspired by the history of Dominican University and the current reckoning of the arts and education, Sato looks at the wider context of optimism and opportunity that universities offer.
In the 1930’s Dominican College (as it was then known) hired a young photographer named Ansel Adams to shoot the grounds and the young women of the school for marketing materials. An unknown Adams would go on to take many photos until the 1950’s for the school’s marketing campaigns. Sato has poured over the Adams archive to understand how the iconic photographer both honed his craft and created commercially viable imagery, meant to inspire and engage. The images offer glimpses of another time, one of possibility, but also of parallels to contemporary society. A shifting mindset about the role of education and the ability to access such an important resource are fundamental subjects for Sato, whose work draws on the binds and fractures of contemporary society.
Hiroshi Sato was born in Japan in 1987. He spent his childhood in Tanzania but returned to Japan for secondary school. His work has been featured in Visual Art Source and Juxtapoz Magazine. He was Artist in Residence at the Cheekwood in Nashville, TN. His work is in public collections including Cheekwood and Ionis Pharmaceuticals. He has shown extensively across the US and UK.
