showcase #4
– constructs –
curated by minoru shimizu
2015.05.08 (Fri.) – 05.31 (Sun.)
open on Fri., Sat., & Sun. 12:00 – 18:00
opening reception : 05.31 (Sun.) 18:00 – 20:00
appointments are available on weekdays
special thanks to Canon
Daisuke Nakashima
“blind” lightjet print | 1,200 × 800 mm | 2015 | ©Daisuke Nakashima
Yusaku Yamazaki
“Ai Sato” archival pigments print | 900 × 600 mm | 2014 | ©Yusaku Yamazaki
eN arts is pleased to present the fourth edition of “showcase,” curated by Professor Minoru Shimizu, one of Japan’s most respected contemporary art critics. “Showcase”, a group exhibition focused on photography, is increasingly recognized a true showcase for up-and-coming photographers. For “showcase #4”, Professor Shimizu has selected two talented photographers from the perspective of “Constructs”: Daisuke Nakashima and Yusaku Yamazaki. Please enjoy the exhibit.
Naomi Rowe | eN arts
showcase #4 – constructs-
In contast to “showcase #3″ presenting Japanese Portraits, the theme of “showcase #4″ is a photographic style set in contrast to the realism of photography. As a matter of course, the dualisms — “pictorial or direct?” or “direct or realism” — were the presupposition, in addition, the efficacy of “straight” and “realism” as a competitiveness was believed. “showcase #4″ is “constructs”. The genre called “constructed photography”.
In this exhibition, all the photographs are fragments of the world, cut from a photographic frame, and only exhist as “constructed photography.” One form of “constructed photography” shows “real” and “direct” while another “construct” represents “pictorial” and “fake”. In other words, the action of photographing is the same as constructing the photograph, and this includes the act of crafting the manner in which to view the photograph.
Daisuke Nakashima (b. 1983) was awarded Semi Grand-Prix in “New Cosmos of Photography” in 2007, and Grand-Prix in “Visual Arts Photo Award” in 2008. In the same year “each other” (Seigensha/Kyoto) was publised, marking his career debut in photography. His capacity to construct an imperturbably “cool” composition, without undue focus, and to divide and re-connect the object, somehow is an innate ability. His photographs are truly “constructed photography,” framing objects and selecting the light so that they are completed without any image processing.
Yusaku Yamazaki (b. 1984) was awarded an Honorable Mention Award (selecting judge: Minoru Shimizu) in “New Cosmos of Photography” in 2013, and in the same year was awarded an Encouraging Prize (selecting judge: Hiromi Tsuchida) in the “1_WALL Phography Competition,” and in 2014 he was awarded the Excellence Award for “New Cosmos of Photography.” Now his photographs are drawing attention from both critics and the general public. With his works, the basis of viewing a photograph is subverted by his advnced imaging processing techniques, techniques that few people notice. As a result of these techniques, his works eliminate the obvious from the photograph itself and the act of viewing.
How two different approaches, “naturalism” and “technicialism” work to construct photographs that calmly shake the various premise of taking photographs and viewing them, with a touch of humor.
Minoru Shimizu
statement by Daisuke Nakashima
For me, the act of showing images that I have photographed to others is the act to make the viewer feel to be the outside of the image that I framed, making them aware the perspectives of “invisibleness” and “unable to capture [on film]”. I want to make works, in contrast to the act of simple seeing, that can sway perception, that are free from the stereotyped recognition, and that released from categorization.
statement by Yusaku Yamazaki
All women represented here do not exist. They are imagined, illusory women created by image processing, based on hundreds of thousands of photographs, from a motif of snapshots on streets of people passing by. I incorporate subtle differences in all the images that appear to be the same person, and I do not represent the original face. I named these women, who wander from existence to non-existence, “Ai Sato”, the name that combines with the most popular last name and first name among the Japanese women in their 20s and 30s. We handle the act “to recognize the faces” unconsciously. In the human brain, there is a domain that only recognizes faces. For example, “Is this person safe or not?” or “Have I met this person?”, And we instantly judge them. I tried to influence the domain that recognizes faces by constructing “a face which dose not exist” that changes in succession. At the same time, I try to shake perceptions by invoking and jolting a sense of déjà vu. A lot of photographers present the photos of passersby on the street. So I thought to make a device so that we feel a sense of incongruity and an inability to land anywhere by building on top of that photographic culture and method. And as long as I use “the face of another person”, I can’t get away from the question of privacy. I am interested in what it means to represent “the face that belongs to nobody”, especially in these days when the morals of exhibiting photos from the street are called into question.
PRESS RELEASE
CV DAISUKE NAKASHIMA
CV YUSAKU YAMAZAKI
【showcase curated by minoru shimizu】
2012
SHOWCASE #1 curated by minoru shimizu
2013
showcase #2 curated by minoru shimizu
2014
showcase #3 “Japanese Portrait” curated by minoru shimizu
2015
showcase #4 -Constructs- curated by minoru shimizu
2016
showcase #5 “Serendipity” curated by minoru shimizu
2017
showcase #6 “Storytelling” curated by minoru shimizu
2018
showcase #7 “写真とスキャン PHOTO & SCAN” curated by minoru shimizu