Taka Ishii

Daido Moriyama

27 Nov - 18 Dec 2010

© Daido Moriyama
Tsugaru, 2010
B & W print
DAIDO MORIYAMA
Tsugaru
27 November – 18 December, 2010

Taka Ishii Gallery is pleased to announce “Tsugaru”, a solo exhibition with Daido Moriyama. The exhibition which will be Moriyama’s 10th show at Taka Ishii Gallery features 55 works taken in 1976 during his visit to the towns within the surrounding areas of the Tsugaru plain.

“Memory of the Eye”
Within my memory the Tsugaru plain throughout the four seasons has been a region enveloped by very strong winds.
At one time I somehow became constantly interested in the name of the town, ‘Goshogawara’, and as if being drawn to it, went there to shoot my photographs. For a while afterwards for some reason or another, I would continue to drop by Tsugaru. There were many towns with mysterious names which stirred my imagination such as Kizukuri, Kuroishi, Kanagi, Shariki, and Jyusan, and within those landscapes with my camera in one hand I too, would swiftly brush past like the wind.
I am still to this day, left with the impression of the signage for an optician’s clinic which had profusely caught my eye.
5 October, 2010 Daido Moriyama

Moriyama whom continues to speak of his constitution being directed towards the north, began photographing areas of Hokkaido as well as the northeastern regions of Japan in the early 1970s. These photographs were continuously published in photography magazines. His series of works photographed in 1976 within the Goshogawara area (Aomori prefecture) and the small towns which surrounded the Tsugaru plain, were presented in the form of a solo exhibition held at the Nikon Salon Tokyo (Shinjuku, Ginza), in May of the same year. Along with his solo show ‘The Tales of Tohno’ (1974) in which Moriyama first exhibited his original prints themselves, ‘Goshogawara’ was a series which became a turning point for Moriyama, whom until then had continuously pursued the presentation of his works in magazine format.

For the exhibition the gallery will present a total of 55 prints (some of which are vintage) of Moriyama’s unreleased photographic works centered upon the region of Goshogawara and the small towns located

within the vicinities of the Tsugaru plain, as well as a new work photographed within recent years. 34 years since their taking, now with personal sentiment and memories faded, Moriyama’s works begin to represent the fundamental allure of photography –it’s essential purpose as a documentary tool.
 

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