Yasuhiro Ishimoto – Doors – By Agathe Cancellieri
“…As the language of photographic expression has developed, the emphasis on the meaning of a photograph has slipped – slipped from what the world looks like to how we see the world and what we want to tell of the world.” – Aaron Siskind
Ishimoto, through the documentary approach, seeked to capture the formal power of an image and the graphic dimension of life and the city. Ishimoto’s subjects, often enigmatic, are captured outside of their context, so that the viewer’s attention is primarily focused on the composition of the image, the play between the materials and the motif. Ishimoto thus structured his photographs with a strong contrast between light and shadow, white and black tones, blur and sharpness. He favored off-center framing, high or low angle, and often integrated several plans on the same surface.
By Agathe Cancellieri. Excerpts from Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Sweet Home Chicago from the book Yasuhiro Ishimoto. Des lignes et des corps.
