Michael Hoppen Gallery, Tate Modern, Frieze London: Daido Moriyama
On display this season in London, at three separate venues, the artwork of Daido Moriyama, the 2012 Infinity Awards Recipient for Lifetime Achievement.
Daido Moriyama was born in Osaka in 1938 and moved to Tokyo in 1961, motivated by William Klein’s book, New York 1954-5, to engage in photography. His numerous photo-books made him the most well known representative of the post-war, Japanese, avant-garde and the 1960s Provoke movement. Moriyama was first introduced to the London audience in 1991, when his 1968 photo-book, Japan: A Photo Theatre, was adapted to the group exhibition Beyond Japan: A Photo Theatre in Barbican.
His oeuvre marked the transition of the Japanese world from a traditional society to the western, US-influenced model, as it is evident in his early black and white industrial and urban Shinjuku, Tokyo landscapes. These photographs are, bure, boke (rough, blurry, out of focus), following the manifesto of the Provoke group: ‘A photographer’s eye can capture fragments of reality that cannot be expressed in language as it is’, thus suggesting the prominence of the pictured object over the individual glance. Apart from his most characteristic, chiaroscuro city scenes (e.g. in Tokyo, New York, Paris) shot from unexpected angles- such asg Stray Dog (1971), he utilizes colour, Polaroid, silkscreen and installation too, as well as various themes in his practice.
On view now at the Michael Hoppen Gallery, until the 20th of October, Moriyama’s solo show Tights and Lips, a peculiar example of erotic photography, for the female figure is also approached as a landscape, where geometrical, fragmented parts (curved calves in fishnet tights and lips) compose a geography of the body- a ‘balanced and powerful’ result according to Moriyama, that is less grainy, but still close to the tenets of the Provoke movement.
On the 9th of October, on the occasion of the exhibition William Klein + Daido Moriyama in Tate Modern, don’t miss the artist’s talk with curator Simon Baker, supported by the Japan Foundation. Opening on the 10th of the month, the exhibition provides a creative comparison of Klein’s and Moriyama’s work, focused mainly on political and urban directions. Last but not least, Moriyama’s photography will be available at the booth of Taka Ishii Gallery (stand:B5) during Frieze London, featuring a few striking works, including the haunting Documentary 93 (1986), estimated just under £10k.
Photo: Daido Moriyama, Ominato (Small Colour Portfolio), 1974 © Daido Moriyama
Exhibition Information: Tights and Lips
7 September 2012 – 20 October 2012
Michael Hoppen Gallery, 3 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TD
Admission: FREE
http://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/
Michael Klein + Daido Moriyama
10 October 2012 – 20 January 2013
Tate Modern Museum, Sumner Street, Bankside, London SE1 9TG
Admission: £12.70, concessions available
http://www.tate.org.uk/
Frieze London
11 October 2012 – 14 October 2012
Regent’s Park, London NW1 4NR
Admission: from £27, concessions available
http://friezelondon.com/
By Marw Kouvatsou
