I finally got around to checking out the Shoji Ueda exhibition at the Fujifilm Photo Museum in Roppongi.
A lifelong Pursuit of Modernism − the Photographic World of Shoji Ueda is a grand title for the modestly presented exhibition – almost an afterthought in a space that houses Fujifilm’s entire catalogue of products, which is in itself a fascinating exhibition – but it’s definitely worth a look.
Mika Ninagawa’s images are a kaleidoscopic explosion of color and shape that bring to mind early 20th Century art movements and Tokyo’s more excessive neon-lit cityscapes. The photographer/filmmaker is a media savvy, post-modern Matisse; she seamlessly traverses, in the style of Japanese creatives, the worlds of high art, pop culture and commerce to create striking works for photo exhibitions, magazine editorials, advertising campaigns, books and movie theaters. Her online presence extends to e-commerce, a blog and a dedicated mobile website.
Whatever the purpose of her images, she brings an auteur’s eye to her favorite motifs: flowers, exotic fish, cultural iconography and edgy, highly stylized pop portraits that borrow imagery and themes from – and inform – manga, the fashion industry, pop music and traditional theater.
All original images : : copyright Mika Ninagawa.
From camera obscura and Daguerrotype to Instagram and Lytro’s light field photography, photography has come a long way and the Japanese brands have been integral in its development, helping to shape the evolution of photography and its technologies.
The infatuation with photography has grown stronger as the technology has advanced – with plenty of help from local companies such as Nikon, Canon, Konica, Minolta, Fujifilm, Sony, Panasonic and Olympus. The caricature of camera-wielding Japanese is for the most part an accurate depiction: from the enthusiast retirees decked out with their state of the art telephoto lens kits and the vacationing tour groups snapping away at foreign landmarks with their gleaming compact cameras to the schoolgirls who frequent the purikura photo sticker booths or share cell phone snapshots with their friends.
Canon EOS 60D; Nikon D40X; Sony NEX-5N; Fujifilm FinePix X100 : : all original images copyright of their respective companies.
Gallery Koyanagi in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza neighborhood is one of the city’s leading commercial art galleries, presenting high calibre innovative artworks and installations from contemporary local and international artists such as Ryoji Ikeda, Noguchi Rika, Sophie Calle and, in an association that dates back to the gallery’s earliest years, Hiroshi Sugimoto, who is one of the world’s most acclaimed photographic artists.
