As an artist photographer from California who lives and works out of Tokyo, this is what caught my eye at Tokyo Art Fair.
While it was great to see the big names in Japanese photography such as Daido Moriyama, Nobuyoshi Araki, Eikoh Hosoe, Issei Suda and Noriaki Yokosuka at the main Tokyo galleries such as Taka Ishii, Emon, MEM and Zen Foto, I really liked exploring outside of the established photography scene.
A collection of underwater black and white photographs of female divers known as Amam, or sea women. Photos resurfaced after the success of a highly famous Japanese TV series called Ama-chan. The underwater photos are from the 1950’s, when underwater camera houses did not exist. Technical hang ups aside, the photos were breathtaking and the history phenomenal. I was lucky enough to have an informed friend and side-kick explaining the story of almost naked women in small bikini with machete size knifes . She keeps me interested now by pulling up more of the amazing works from online.
It was interesting hearing the story of Ryudai Takano, a photographer presented by gallery Hiromi Yoshii. Ryudai represents post-Fukushima life by capturing his shadow in everyday life scenarios. I’m told his previous works were color nudes and self-portraits.
Buto performance dance photos are displayed at almost hip height; nuclear energy seems to be ever-present. Buto is a type of contemporary dance developed in the 1950s as a non-conformist reaction to traditional dance and theater movements.
Other style of photography exhibited at the fair included a unframed B&W timeline photo collage wall of 1970’s works with a small break of color in the timeline.
Nichido Contemporary Art held some fun surprises with Vik Munizs’ “Pictures of Earthwork.” I’m a fan of the no Photoshop approach and this one is well executed. He uses the earth and sky as his canvases and cranes and skywriting planes as his tools to outline every day found objects. Results are captivating, motivated and witty photographs. I’m a further fan in hearing he contributes his skill to educational and social development. One of these ways is through proceeds from his prints sales, which are going towards reconstruction efforts in and around Sendai.
Side Core was a breath of fresh air. An artist collective – not a gallery – with youth true to themselves and seemingly unaffected by the Art Fair stereotype. The collective’s vibe brought their street style onto the scene. The only photographer in the group show is Ryota Kikuchi. Ryota combines his free climbing skill, eye for a good location and awareness of good natural light to capture gravity defying portraits set in beautiful urban landscapes. The photos are fun and confusing to the eye.
In art I often fall in love with the artist before ever meeting the work. This was the case with Ayano Sudo. Ayano is charming, a perfect representation for me of a Japanese kawaii Cindy Sherman. Her self portraits are beautiful in color palate, styling and composition. I am enjoying studying the self-portraits and finding how she self-transforms.
At the fair I experienced no language barrier and in true Japanese style curators, directors and artist were all very accommodating.
At this point I’m tired and seeing all my friends is great. The Tokyo photographers have all found each other and adoringly photograph one another the photography scene here is from my experience sophisticated, fashionable and charming. Good night fair till’ tomorrow…
Nicole C. Berry
