AKIO NAGASAWA GALLERY AOYAMA is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition "Middle of the Night" showcasing works by photographer Gentaro Ishizuka.

Shot in the dim light of the White night in Alaska, "Middle of the Night" is a series of photographs of glaciers illuminated by LED light. Ishizuka paddled his canoe through the extreme cold of the vast natural landscapes, the features of which he outlined using artificial light and a large-format 8x10 film camera. Also on display in addition to this series is a 4-meter panorama photograph of a giant "fictional" mountain of drift ice, synthetically created by processing "real" drift ice.

Gentaro Ishizuka began to travel around the world and photograph landscapes when he was in his teens. Since learning about the etymology of the word "photography," according to which it combines the natural element of "photo" (sun, light) and the artificial operation of "graphy" (depiction), Ishizuka has been creating his works based on the concept and method of such "coexistence of contradicting aspects."
"PIPELINE ALASKA," one of his previously published series, traces the inorganic "artifact" of a pipeline that runs over 1,200 kilometers through the Alaskan Tundra, tourist spots, and the vast natural landscapes of coniferous forests. Reversely, for "N/P" Ishizuka didn't even leave his home, but shot identically composed still lives, and eventually printed the results while moving the negatives and positives around. The coexistence of different phenomena visualized this way seems to be paying homage to the history of photography itself.
While following this general direction of Ishizuka's work, this exhibition was put together with the desire to project the deep breath and sublation of the "coexistence of contradicting aspects" in the depicted landscapes as well as in the methods by which they have been captured.
We invite you to come and enjoy a display of "photography" as pursued and expressed through the unique work of Gentaro Ishizuka.

During the exhibition period, "WorldWideWonderful" (2002), an early self-published photo book documenting Ishizuka's travels across Africa and Asia, and thus illustrating the origins of his creative work, is on sale at the exhibition venue and online shop only.