Iona Rozeal Brown, American, born 1966 One for the Money, Two Faux the Show (Still Pimpin’), after Katsukawa Shun’ei’s The Actor Ichikawa Komazo III, 2006 Acrylic, gold leaf on panel
Kitagawa Utamaro, 1753/54–1806 Love for a Farmer’s Wife, 1795–96 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e)
Gajin Fujita, American, born 1972 Crew, 2002 Spray paint, acrylic, and gold leaf on wood
Kabukidō Enkyō, active ca. 1796 Ichikawa Yaozō III as Umeōmaru, 1796 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e)
I am currently involved in the preparation of several exhibitions on Japanese photography. Two of them will open this Friday in Cologne.
Rinko Kawauchi “Murmuration” exhibition/book @Brighton Photo Biennal 2010
Rinko Kawauchi will exhibit a new series “Murmuration” at the Brighton Photo Biennal 2010 (Oct 2nd – Nov 14th 2010). The series is commissioned by the Brighton Biennal and will be accompanied by a publication.
Acclaimed Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi has been drawn to the spectacle of flocking starlings at Brighton Pier. Here during the winter months at dusk, the birds gather in their tens of thousands, wheeling around to create a mesmerizing swirling cloud called a murmuration. Kawauchi is fascinated by the ephemeral nature of this phenomenon and, continuing with the theme of the flock, she has also trailed groups of people through the city. @Brighton Photo Biennal 2010
The achingly fashionable shopping complex Omotesando Hills hosts the current exhibition of Ume Kayo’s latest work, an event which coincides with the release of her most recent photobook. The title of both the book and the show is spelled Umep but pronounced “Umeppu” in Japanese.
Ume-me book cover
Winner of the Ihee Kimura prize in 2006 with a cheerful collection of often bizarre little pictures entitled Umeme, Ume Kayo’s affable pictures have earned her an interesting position in popular Japanese photography. In addition to impressive book sales she has created an interesting brand which surrounds her artistic output garnering her many fans and admirers. She is a terrific street photographer, and since her debut with Umeme she has gone on to exhibit her photography around Japan and been treated to an admittedly enviable career of fashion shoots, collaborations, commercial work, and several more photo books. […]
Was John Szarkowski the most influential person in 20th-century photography?
This question headlines an article by Sean O’Hagan in the Guardian. O’Hagan writes:
An insightful critic as well as a visionary curator, Szarkowski filled New York’s Museum of Modern Art with the colour photography of William Eggleston, and championed the transgressive work of Diane Arbus and Lee Friedlander. Everyone who cares about photography is in his debt. …. As a writer, Szarkowski was innovative; as a curator, he was revolutionary. In 1967, during the so-called Summer of Love, he curated a show called New Documents at Moma. It featured the work of three relatively unknown photographers: Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and Gary Winogrand. … At Moma, Szarkowski also hosted challenging shows by pioneering European photographers like Lartigue, Brassai and Cartier-Bresson. … @guardian.co.uk
O’Hagan of course mentiones the famous controversy in regard to the first William Eggleston exhibition at the MOMA (the New York Times declared it the worst show of the year), but those who follow my writings know that my angle is not on Western photography.
And in this case I just would like to remind of the fact that John Szarkovski also curated the seminal exhibition “New Japanese Photography” in 1974. In my opinion the qualitity of the selected artists/works - among others Ken Domon, Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Shomei Tomatsu, Kikuji Kawada, Hiromi Tsuchida, Masahisa Fukase, Ikko Narahara, Eikoh Hosoe and Daido Moriyama - and the essays by Szarkowski and his co-curator Shôji Yamagishi set the benchmark for all Western exhibitions and writings on Japanese photography to follow.
The exhibition of works by Nobuyoshi Araki (b. 1940), »Silent Wishes«, staged in collaboration with Museum der Moderne in Salzburg, includes some 150 black & white photographs.
The works exhibited focus on the early photographs by the young, still unknown Araki, which were taken from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. There are also examples of his later work that address the calm, erotic Tokyo beyond the hectic business facade.
The heart of the exhibition is the intimate series »My Wife Yoko« from the Museum der Moderne collection, describing and revolving around the artist’s young wife on their honeymoon, in their home, and on excursions nearby. These works are complemented by a series of 12 photographs from 1989/1990, with which Araki accompanied his wife during her fatal illness: »Winter Journey« tells the moving story of bidding farewell. More recent photographs show the photographer Araki as he became world famous: as the narrator of erotic scenes and portraits of females.
Exhibiton: Seiichi Furuya - Mémoires @Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
The ‘Seiichi Furuya: Mémoires.’ exhibition will introduce the long-running ‘Mémoires’ series by the photographer Seiichi Furuya, who is based in Graz, Austria, which have received high international acclaim. It will focus on portrait photographs he took of his wife, Christine, who died in East Germany in 1985, rearranged together with photographs of their family and his daily life in the present, to produce the final installment in this series which has continued now for over twenty years. Including many works that have not been published before, this exhibition will consist of approximately 130 photographs, highlighting the issues of life and death, darkness within the family, and emotions.
Hidden Books, Hidden Stories consists of two components. The first Photographs will be selected and sequenced by Mr. Reed and will be accompanied by an original musical score.
Hidden Books, Hidden Stories is an exceptionally personal exploration of myriad imaginative and compelling visual narratives. Some are in books, some presented in larger-than-life scales of projection and display that impress and delight. Part one is is a grand audiovisual presentation that will premiere during the festival’s opening night Vernissage. After the show’s premiere, the projection will be screened during regular intervals during the festival on the presentation stage at St. Ann’s Warehouse.
Part two of Hidden Books, Hidden Stories is a collection of participating artists’ books in a custom-built display that will give the visiting public an opportunity to experience each individual artist’s narrative in its entirety.
I would love to see the show, but It’s a little bit far away and I will participate in another festival: 3. International Photobook Festival, Kassel, Germany
