Provocateurs of Japanese Photography
Films, Books and Photography
May 25 - June 30, 2010
Opening Reception: Wednesday, May 26 from 6-8pm
Works by: Araki, Tomoko Sawada, Ryoko Suzuki, Shuji Terayama, Katsumi Watanabe, Miwa Yanagi, and Kohei Yoshiyuki
Curated by Russet Lederman and Kathleen Cullen
Summer Hours: Monday - Friday, 11am - 6pm
Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts
526 West 26th Street, Suite 605
New York, NY 10001
212-463-8500
http://www.kathleencullenfinearts.com
[img]http://community.mfaca.sva.edu/~russet/images/Terayama_stillEmperorTomatoKetchup-still.jpg[/img]
Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts is pleased to present Provocateurs of Japanese Photography, a group exhibition curated by Kathleen Cullen and Russet Lederman, which presents experimental and innovative Japanese photographs, films and photo books from the 1970s and 1990s/2000s.
The last 15 years has seen an extraordinary increase in the number of Japanese women photographers receiving attention both in Japan and the west. Often highlighting and questioning stereotypes of traditional female roles in Japanese society, these works seek to provoke and engage a dialogue of resistance. By juxtaposing these works with the socially provocative and experimental works of Japanese male photographers from the 1970s, this exhibition looks at the similarities and differences in the means of provocation used by two generations and genders separated by 25-30 years.
Emphasizing the diverse media used by many of the photographers in this exhibition, the installation purposefully commingles films, photographs and photo books. Works by 1970s male photographers include: Shuji Terayama’s experimental film Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1971/74), Kohei Yoshiyuki’s voyeuristic photos and accompanying book from his Document Park series (photos 1971-79, book 1980/2007), Araki’s sexually risqué images and Katsumi Watanabe’s portraits and book of gang members and other outcasts from the blue light Kabukicho district (1966-80). Contemporary photographs and photo books by female Japanese photographers include: Tomoko Sawada’s Decoration (2007), Miwa Yanagi’s The White Casket (1994), and Ryoko Suzuki’s Masturbation (1999) and Bind (2001) series.
