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Takuma Nakahira "Overflow"
Taka Ishii Gallery Photography / Film
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Takuma Nakahira
Takashi Ishii Gallery Photography / Film will host a solo exhibition of the photographer and critic Takuma Nakahira, who played a crucial role in the transformation of Japanese photography and continues to have a significant impact on contemporary photographic expression both domestically and internationally. The exhibition, running from Saturday, August 3, to Saturday, September 14, marks the first time Nakahira's work will be shown at Takashi Ishii Gallery. It will focus on Nakahira’s career spanning nearly 50 years, particularly highlighting his work from the early 1970s, when he was more consciously presenting color photographs themed around urban and urban architecture.
From the beginning of his career, Nakahira critically questioned the medium of photography itself, which proliferated within consumer society. During the late 1960s and up to his first photo book, "For the Coming Words" (published in 1970), he released numerous radical monochrome works in magazines, characterized by blurred and out-of-focus contours, coarse grain, and tilted compositions. These works were recognized as a new form of photographic expression and represented a significant turning point in post-war Japanese photography. However, following the 1970 revised Security Treaty and the Osaka Expo, Nakahira began to consider how to create cracks in a seemingly stagnant and calming society. In 1973, he wrote the essay "Why a Plant Encyclopedia?" which deliberately negated his earlier works, marking the beginning of his search for a new direction. The exhibited works, "Flood" and other pieces capturing the urban environment from the same period, can be seen as one of Nakahira’s responses to this search.
"Flood," exhibited at the 1974 "15 Photographers" exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, is an installation work consisting of 48 color photographs mounted directly on resin boards, measuring 6 meters wide and 1.6 meters high. The photographs, including those published in magazines between 1969 and 1974, focus on fragmented urban scenes, arranged on the wall in a de-centered assemblage. The images—vines crawling on walls, manhole covers on streets, sharks in tanks viewed through glass, and scenes from subway stations—sensitively address the dark areas, cracks, deficiencies, and foreign elements lurking in the information-saturated urban space. The exhibition will also feature color photographs taken for the article "City: Pitfalls," published in the January 1975 issue of "Asahi Camera," as well as black-and-white subway photographs from the 1973 "Asahi Journal."
From the beginning of his career, Nakahira critically questioned the medium of photography itself, which proliferated within consumer society. During the late 1960s and up to his first photo book, "For the Coming Words" (published in 1970), he released numerous radical monochrome works in magazines, characterized by blurred and out-of-focus contours, coarse grain, and tilted compositions. These works were recognized as a new form of photographic expression and represented a significant turning point in post-war Japanese photography. However, following the 1970 revised Security Treaty and the Osaka Expo, Nakahira began to consider how to create cracks in a seemingly stagnant and calming society. In 1973, he wrote the essay "Why a Plant Encyclopedia?" which deliberately negated his earlier works, marking the beginning of his search for a new direction. The exhibited works, "Flood" and other pieces capturing the urban environment from the same period, can be seen as one of Nakahira’s responses to this search.
"Flood," exhibited at the 1974 "15 Photographers" exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, is an installation work consisting of 48 color photographs mounted directly on resin boards, measuring 6 meters wide and 1.6 meters high. The photographs, including those published in magazines between 1969 and 1974, focus on fragmented urban scenes, arranged on the wall in a de-centered assemblage. The images—vines crawling on walls, manhole covers on streets, sharks in tanks viewed through glass, and scenes from subway stations—sensitively address the dark areas, cracks, deficiencies, and foreign elements lurking in the information-saturated urban space. The exhibition will also feature color photographs taken for the article "City: Pitfalls," published in the January 1975 issue of "Asahi Camera," as well as black-and-white subway photographs from the 1973 "Asahi Journal."
Schedule | Aug 3 (Sat) 2024-Sep 14 (Sat) 2024 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | https://www.takaishiigallery.com/en/archives/38307/ | ||||
| Venue | Taka Ishii Gallery Photography / Film http://www.takaishiigallery.com/ | ||||
| Location | 2F Axis Bldg., 5-17-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032 | ||||
| Access | 8 minute walk from exit 3 at Roppongi Station on the Hibiya or Toei Oedo line, 8 minute walk from exit 1 at Roppongi-itchome Station on the Namboku line. | ||||
| Phone | 03-6447-1035 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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