ACTOR: Shimizu Isamu
Gallery hours:11:00-19:00
Closed on Monday,Tuesday
An exhibition centering around portraits of vaudeville artist Shimizu Isamu.
First published in Camera Mainichi magazine in 1967, this series of photographs partly reappeared in Japan, A Photo Theater, but otherwise remained largely unseen.
However, it is recently being valued as an essential part in Moriyama’s early work.
In addition to the items published in Camera Mainichi, this first proper exhibition dedicated to this particular series features mostly shots that haven’t been shown before.
Related publication
Daido Moriyama, ACTOR Shimizu Isamu
Akio Nagasawa Publishing /A4 deformation／ 80P / ed. 600 / signed & numbered
￥16,200.-
Event preview
Daido Moriyama “Printing Show”
This is a rare opportunity for participants to create the Daido Moriyama photo book "a room".
※Date:February 14,15
※Time:11:30-,13:30-,15:30,-17,30-
Artist
Daido MORIYAMA
森山大道
Born 1938 in Osaka. After working as an assistant for photographers Takeji Iwamiya and Eikoh Hosoe, he went independent in 1964. He has been publishing his works in photography magazines among others, and received a New Artist Award from the Japan Photo Critics Association for Japan: A Photo Theater in 1967. Between 1968 and ’70 he was involved in the photo fanzine Provoke, and his style of grainy, high-contrast images that came to be referred to as “are, bure, boke” (grainy, blurry, out-of-focus) made an impact on the realm of photography. Solo shows at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Paris solidified Moriyama’s worldwide reputation, and in 2012, he became the first Japanese to be awarded in the category of Lifetime Achievement at the 28th Annual Infinity Awards hosted by the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York. The “William Klein + Daido Moriyama” exhibition together with William Klein at London’s Tate Modern in 2012-13 was a showdown of two immensely popular photographers that took the world by storm.
Publication
Actor Isamu Shimizu
My first encounter with Shimizu Isamu occurred when I noticed a photo of his face in the show window of a cabaret in Shimbashi, where he was part of the current program.That was fifty years ago.
At the time, 'Camara mainichi' a photo magazine published by the mainichi Newspapers,was occasionally publishing my works in what the editor in charge called an "entertainers' series". After having shot showpeople at the "Mokubakan"in Asakusa,enka(Japanese popular ballad) singer Saburo Kitajima on the road,and Toei yakuza film studios for exsample, my encounter with that one captivating picture of Mr.Shimizu's smiling face came just in time when I was looking for my next target. It wa s crucial encounter, as I decided right on the spot that this was the next person I was going to photograph.
It still happens today that I fondly recall the time I spent with Mr.Shimizu during the photo shootings. In such moments I see him and my-self-two young dudes in conversation,just as if fifty that gap of fifty years wasn't there at all.
– Daido Moriyama