The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 22, 2025
Portraits of Ryoichi Yoshimura and Ryoichi
1999
(American, 1945–2017)
Image: 15 x 22.7 cm (5 7/8 x 8 15/16 in.); Paper: 20.2 x 25.2 cm (7 15/16 x 9 15/16 in.)
Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2011.287
Location: Not on view
Description
Which is more useful to humanity: fact or myth, science or faith? This question is central to the saga imagined and brought to life by Nagatani of the archeological explorations led by the artist’s alter ego, Japanese scientist Ryoichi. Traveling the globe between 1985 and 2000, Ryoichi’s team locates and documents 13 of 30 archeological sites, each of which contains a remarkably well-preserved, low-mileage automobile that must have been buried there centuries earlier. Photographs, stills from video documentation, artifacts, and pages from Ryoichi’s journal serve as scientific "proof" that time may not be linear. "If fiction has given more to us than fact, then this is the greatest truth," writes Ryoichi/Nagatani in his journal at the thirteenth and final site.- George Stephanopoulos
- "Join In.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 55, no. 1 (January/February 2015): 23. Reproduced: p. 23 archive.orgFensom, Sarah E. "I.D., Please: An Eclectic Exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art Focuses on the Way Photorgraphers Both Establish and Subvert their Subjects' Identities." Art & Antiques 38, no. 2 (February 2015): 64-68. 68
- Constructed Identities. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 14, 2014-April 26, 2015).
- {{cite web|title=Portraits of Ryoichi Yoshimura and Ryoichi |url=false|author=Patrick Nagatani|year=1999|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2011.287