EXHIBITION

Chikashi Suzuki

My Tokyo

20/April/2019 - 1/June/2019

KOSAKU KANECHIKA is pleased to present Chikashi Suzuki’s solo exhibition “My Tokyo”, opening on Saturday 20th April.

 

Chikashi Suzuki presents work in both international and Japanese editorials, making him one of the most well-known Japanese photographers in editorial and fashion photography since the 1990s. In Suzuki’s photographs, his subjects – the city of Tokyo that attracts creators from all over the world, and its celebrities and artists, from well-known designers to young models – seem to show a different side from their public image: just for a moment, some fresh aspect from deep inside them becomes instinctively visible. Suzuki’s work is a unique world of beauty that lingers within the heart, even though it is composed of simple fragments of transient time.

 

Photography as a medium has long experienced “denial” and “re-interpretation”. Its history has witnessed the denial of itself as a means of documentation and its aesthetic values, as well as the diversification and multi-polarization through which photographic expression has been deconstructed and reconstructed after Postmodernism. Many artists have tackled the “dilemma of photography” as a kind of fate, and explored means of expression in different ways.

 

Suzuki has also devoted himself to a journey of exploring the medium of photography. In our contemporary age existing within an influx of what might be called “digital nature”, photography has come to be seen as images that are consumed and disposed. Suzuki attempts to take back photography’s essence by shooting with a film camera and tripod, and printing very carefully: both of which may seem obstacles in contrast to the instantaneity with which we have became familiar. This can be regarded as the “salvage” of photography. In contrast with so many images that are consumed and become obsolete, these moments captured unconsciously and yet consciously by Suzuki become one sheet of photographs, after undergoing a process of chemical reaction between the printing paper and light. By showing rich nuance and atmosphere condensed into one photograph, Suzuki invites us to reconsider how photographs as a medium have attracted those who take them as well as those who view them, and how human perception has changed due to technological advancement over time.

 

All the works shown in this exhibition have been taken on film cameras, mostly with medium format and reversal films. In addition to new portraits and Tokyo cityscapes, recent flower works will be re-selected again and exhibited following Suzuki’s last solo exhibition with the gallery, “A Fine Day in Tokyo”.

 



About This Exhibition

Flowers are a subject Suzuki keeps returning to in his work. He has stated that he prefers to photograph flowers that were first artificially arranged yet left for a long time without being taken care of, rather than flowers in nature. These images are intentionally taken with under-exposure, and are completed by the artist who gathers light into the works during the process of printing. In this series we see the special beauty of flowers emerging from within richly nuanced gradations of light – including soft, dim, and tranquil shades. This kind of expression is only possible with the use of film cameras.

 

Suzuki takes photographs in places familiar to him, as if collecting images. He sees the city and society as assemblages of individuals. He collects moments seemingly unconsciously, as though they are instants within a blink of his eye. Yet when the fragments are gathered together and recomposed, we can sense the liberation conveyed by this spontaneity, and the real joy of viewing photography. This exhibition will feature approximately 25 works in three different sizes.

 



General information

Exhibition
Chikashi Suzuki "My Tokyo"

Dates
April 20 − June 1, 2019
Opening reception: April 20, at 6 pm - 8 pm

Hours
11 am - 6 pm / Tue, Wed, Thu and Saturday
11 am - 8 pm / Friday
Closed on Sun, Mon and National Holidays


Location
KOSAKU KANECHIKA
TERRADA Art Complex 5F
1-33-10 Higashi-Shinagawa
Shinagawa-ku
Tokyo
140-0002
+81(0)3-6712-3346
kosakukanechika.com

Free admission




Chikashi Suzuki

Born in 1972. Started his career as a photographer with Purple Magazine (France) in 1998. Currently shoots for international and domestic magazines, as well as commercial photography for ISSEY MIYAKE, TOGA, CEBIT, and GUCCI, amongst others.
He has held group exhibitions at COLETTE (1998, Paris, France), MOCA (2001, Los Angeles, USA) and HENRY ART GALLERY (2001, Washington, USA), and his major solo exhibitions have been held at TREESARESOSPECIAL (2005, Tokyo, Japan), G/P GALLERY (2009, Tokyo, Japan), and KOSAKU KANECHIKA (2018, Tokyo, Japan). His major publications include “Shapes of Blooming” (2005, TREESARESOSPECIAL), “Driving with Rinko Kikuchi” (2008, THE INTERNATIONAL), “CITE” (2009, G/P GALLERY, TREESARESOSPECIAL) and “Sakura!” (2014, LITTLE MORE).

WORKS

  • Nakameguro, Tokyo, 2017

  • Shinjuku, Tokyo, 2015

  • Harajuku, Tokyo, 1998

  • Shibuya, Tokyo, 2011

  • Shibuya, Tokyo, 2019

  • Aoyama, Tokyo, 2019

  • Aoyama, Tokyo, 2018

  • Nakano, Tokyo, 2016

  • Shibuya, Tokyo, 2017

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INSTALLATION VIEW