Archive for November, 2004
November 23, 2004 at 19:23 · Filed under Exhibition, Photographer
Shomei Tomatsu: A Bottle that Was Melted by Heat Wave and Fires, Nagasaki, 1961
With the exhibition Shomei Tomatsu - Skin of the Nation the photographer receives a large retrospective at the Japan Society New York (until Jan. 2, 2005)
Shomei Tomatsu (b. 1930) is internationally recognized as the most innovative and important photographer of Japan’s postwar period. Bringing an objective, yet idiosyncratic eye to the fragmented reality of Japanese life in the aftermath of World War II, Tomatsu’s work examines postwar Japan’s ambivalent responses to Western cultural and political influences. While representing a generation of artists who explored the complexities of modern Japanese society, Tomatsu’s achievement is unique. Starkly modernist in his detached, abstract address of everyday objects, Tomatsu invests his subjects with a mystery and poetry that suggest larger, deeper metaphors. Skin of the Nation features nearly 260 works (drawn from the artist’s own collection) spanning 50 years. Each of Tomatsu’s major series is represented, including Nagasaki 11:02, a historic documentation and description of the lives of A-bomb survivors in Nagasaki.
Since the history of Japanese photography until the 1980s is almost unknown outside Japan it is no wonder that first the younger generation born at the end of the 1930s - Nobuyoshi Araki, Daido Moriyama and Hiroshi Sugimoto - received large shows outside Japan before Shomei Tomatsu the grandmaster (Daisensei 大先生) of Japanese photography is introduced to a broader audience abroad.
It will be interesting to see who is next on the list: Eikoh Hosoe, Takuma Nakahira or Kikuji Kawada, or others not named here? Nakahira and Kawada are almost unknown outside Japan, yet.
November 23, 2004 at 13:11 · Filed under Award, Exhibition, Photographer
Yasuhiko Uchihara: Tomato
Yasuhiko Uchihara is the winner of the “Grand Prix” of the 27th New Contest of Photography (link in Japanese).
Canon launched the public competition project “New Cosmos of Photography” in the autumn of 1991, to discover, foster and support new faces in photography, who challenge to pursue possibilities in photographic expressions. Unrestricted and original works, experimental collaborative works of different genres in image expressions, works of digital images, and not to mention, works made with conventional plate cameras, are to be encouraged. The “New Cosmos of Photography” contest is held twice a year.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography will show the grand prix winner and the excellent work prize winners of the “New Cosmos of Photography 2004″ from November 27.
PS: Finally the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography set up a homepage in English. Unfortunatly the information on the exhibitions and events is, except the titles and dates, still in Japanese :-(.
November 23, 2004 at 2:23 · Filed under Exhibition, Photographer, Publication
Mika Ninagawa at Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo
Mika Ninagawa was born in 1972 in Tokyo. She graduated from the Graphic Design Department at Tama Art University in 1997. In 2001 she received the prestigious Ihei Kimura Photography Award. Mika is mainly doing advertising and fashion photography. Her work was included in group shows like “On Happiness - Contemporary Japanese Photography” (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 2003), “Keep in Touch. Positions in Japanese Photography” (Kunsthaus Graz, Austria) and she had solo exhibitions like “Liquid Dreams” (Parco Museum, Tokyo, 2003) and “mika over the rainbow” (Laforet Museum Harajuku, Tokyo) which traveled in Japan in 2004.
Mika is one of my favorite Japanese photographers, working on the borderline between (J-)pop and art photography. The photo is from her book Liquid Dreams.
November 23, 2004 at 1:21 · Filed under Photographer, Publication
Just ordered at Amazon Japan
Syoin Kajii: Nami
The book and the photographer seem to be very interesting:
“His works appeal to me like an ethnic music I’ve never heard of.” - a comment by designer Hideki Nakajima. Among 1200 applicants of the 1st FOIL AWARD, Syoin Kajii was selected as a grand prix winner by Yoshitomo Nara. He doesn’t only take photographs of sea wave in Sado island, but also a priest of esoteric Buddhism. He carefully gauge the speed of the wind and level of sea wave, in order to shoot the waves he aims at. The hitch and faith of his works realize spiritual and dynamic photographs. Designed beautifully by Hideki Nakajima, the works are pulled together as a magnificent and refined photobook.
November 21, 2004 at 0:53 · Filed under Exhibition, Photographer
Daido Moriyama at Galerie Priska Pasquer, Cologne, until Jan. 28, 2005
Daido Moriyama born in 1938 in Osaka is one of the most important Japanese photographers since 1945. His work plays a central role in establishing Japanese photography as one of the most creative directions in the history of photography. During the “Provoke Era” at the end of the 1960s/beginning of the 1970s Moriyama made a significant contribution to the development of photography and his influence on younger Japanese artists continues up until today.
Beside his black and white photographs Galerie Priska Pasquer is glad to be able to exhibit for the first time ever a group of colour photographs by Daido Moriyama.
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