Rei
Gallery hours:11:00-19:00
Closed on Monday,Tuesday
*The Gallery will be open on Monday,July 20,as this day is a public holiday.
AKIO NAGASAWA Gallery announces the opening of Issei Suda’s “Rei“ exhibition of new works.
In this series he has been quietly working on over the last few years, Suda focuses on mannequins in show windows in the Ginza area at the break of day.
“Mannequins” as seen through the eyes of Issei Suda
To stress again what is instantly understandable when looking at these pictures, mannequins are for Suda objects that represent the high-water mark of eroticism.
One particularly appealing quality of Suda’s previous work has been the vague kind of sensuality that Japanese lyricism is charged with, whereas here this aspect is not only brought to the fore, but Suda unreservedly makes it the very target of his approach.
The results are on display for you to witness how the photographer, facing the personified eroticism, indulges in the visual pleasure of scrutinizing the forms, details and nuances of their inorganic skins to the full extent.
Also on display in a separate exhibition room in addition to the above-mentioned new “Rei” is a series of Suda’s very early photographs, titled “Early Works”, making the show an excellent opportunity to study the path of Suda’s multifaceted photographic journey by comparing his earliest and the latest efforts.
Concurrently with the exhibition, the photo books “Rei“ and “Childhood Days”, the latter being themed around “childhood” that every grown-up has gone through once, will be published in signed & numbered limited editions of 600 each.
Artist
Issei SUDA
須田一政
Born 1940 in Tokyo. Graduated from the Tokyo College of Photography in 1962. Was hired as house photographer for Shuji Terayama’s experimental theater troupe Tenjo Sajiki in ’67, before commencing his work as a freelance photographer in ‘71. A Newcomer's Award from the Photographic Society of Japan for Fushi Kaden catapulted him into the limelight in 1976. He further received the Photographic Society of Japan’s Annual Award for the exhibition of the “Monogusa Syui” series in 1983, followed in ’85 by the 1st Domestic Photography Award at Higashikawa for “Nichijo no danpen”. In 1997, his book Human Memory received several awards including the Domon Ken Prize. In 2013, his large-scale retrospective exhibition “Nagi no hira – fragments of calm” was shown at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. His works capturing moments between reality and non-reality have lately earned a high reputation also outside Japan. Main photo collections include Fushi Kaden (’78), Waga Tokyo 100 (’79), Akai hana – scarlet bloom (2000), Fushi Kaden (definitive edition, 2012), Anonymous Men and Women (’13) and Rei (’15)
Publication
Rei
The recent series of publications of Suda’s previous works continues with a long-awaited collection of new photos. This controversial book represents the photographer’s own idea of eroticism in perfection as embodied by the inorganic shapes of mannequins in show windows.
As dawn breaks, they arise from the darkness with their perfect proportions. Now I can gaze at their forms, at every detail, quite unapologetically and as much as I like. It is indeed a feast for the eyes.
– Afterword by Issei Suda
Childhood Days_A
Themed around “childhood days that every grown-up has once gone through”, this collection of photographs ranging from early efforts to recent works includes numerous pictures that were never before published in a photo book.
You can choose from two different images for the cover.
I don’t believe that every person in the world yearns after his or her childhood. Every childhood has its times of grief and suffering. However, once our childhood days lie far behind us, and we find ourselves approaching the end of our life, I suppose we all remember our time as little kids with the same fondness that we’re now looking at our own children with.
– Afterword by Issei Suda
Childhood Days_B
Themed around “childhood days that every grown-up has once gone through”, this collection of photographs ranging from early efforts to recent works includes numerous pictures that were never before published in a photo book.
You can choose from two different images for the cover.
I don’t believe that every person in the world yearns after his or her childhood. Every childhood has its times of grief and suffering. However, once our childhood days lie far behind us, and we find ourselves approaching the end of our life, I suppose we all remember our time as little kids with the same fondness that we’re now looking at our own children with.
– Afterword by Issei Suda