Takuma Nakahira
05 Jan - 05 Feb 2011
TAKUMA NAKAHIRA
Documentary
5 January - 5 February, 2011
For Takuma Nakahira, the most important task is to capture the world as it is. For him, capturing the "world as it is" means approaching the world having emptied one's mind of all preconceptions about the meanings generally associated with things or events. Nakahira decided that it was only then that those things would be revealed in their true forms. Taking photographs, he believes, is the way to receive the signals being emitted from a world that in fact knows no such thing as "I."
Nakahira often takes photos in which he fills the frame with a sign for a restaurant or a sign on a street. Signs are like demonstrative pronouns in that they refer to something else by name ("This is Uryukan," or "Moriyama Shrine Ahead," etc.). Yet, when Nakahira photographs signs, they become removed from those contexts. Only their shapes and the shapes of the letters they contain remain. They exist simply as objects.
"There is my gaze and also the gaze of things that comes back to meet it. The world is like a magnetic field where these two gazes engage with each other."
From "Why an illustrated human-animal dictionary?" in Nakahira Takuma Eizoronshu (Takuma Nakahira collected writings on moving pictures; Shobunsha, 1973)
Understanding all along that the human ego makes it difficult to really see the world "as it is," Nakahira nevertheless continues to try to capture it through this endless accumulation of photographs. And in the repetition of this action, traces of hope emerge.The exhibition includes over 20 photographs selected by the artist from the many thousands he has taken between 2004 and 2010. the exhibition will coincide with another held at BLD Gallery.
Takuma Nakahira was born in Tokyo in 1938. He is currently based in Yokohama. Major solo exhibitions include “Nichijo - Nakahira Takuma no Genzai” (The everyday: Takuma Nakahira’s present; Chukyo University Art Gallery, Aichi Prefecture, 1997), “Nakahira Takuma: Degree Zero” (Yokohama Museum of Art, 2003), “Why an illustrated human-animal dictionary?” (ShugoArts, 2004) and “Why an Illustrated Yokohama Dictionary?” (ShugoArts, 2007). Major group exhibitions include Biennale de Paris (Bois de Vincennes, Paris, 1971), “Fifteen photographers today” (National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1974), “CHIKAKU: Time and Memory in Japan” (Camera Austria, Kunsthaus Graz, Austria, 2005) and “All Our Everydays” (Gallery VER, Thailand).
Documentary
5 January - 5 February, 2011
For Takuma Nakahira, the most important task is to capture the world as it is. For him, capturing the "world as it is" means approaching the world having emptied one's mind of all preconceptions about the meanings generally associated with things or events. Nakahira decided that it was only then that those things would be revealed in their true forms. Taking photographs, he believes, is the way to receive the signals being emitted from a world that in fact knows no such thing as "I."
Nakahira often takes photos in which he fills the frame with a sign for a restaurant or a sign on a street. Signs are like demonstrative pronouns in that they refer to something else by name ("This is Uryukan," or "Moriyama Shrine Ahead," etc.). Yet, when Nakahira photographs signs, they become removed from those contexts. Only their shapes and the shapes of the letters they contain remain. They exist simply as objects.
"There is my gaze and also the gaze of things that comes back to meet it. The world is like a magnetic field where these two gazes engage with each other."
From "Why an illustrated human-animal dictionary?" in Nakahira Takuma Eizoronshu (Takuma Nakahira collected writings on moving pictures; Shobunsha, 1973)
Understanding all along that the human ego makes it difficult to really see the world "as it is," Nakahira nevertheless continues to try to capture it through this endless accumulation of photographs. And in the repetition of this action, traces of hope emerge.The exhibition includes over 20 photographs selected by the artist from the many thousands he has taken between 2004 and 2010. the exhibition will coincide with another held at BLD Gallery.
Takuma Nakahira was born in Tokyo in 1938. He is currently based in Yokohama. Major solo exhibitions include “Nichijo - Nakahira Takuma no Genzai” (The everyday: Takuma Nakahira’s present; Chukyo University Art Gallery, Aichi Prefecture, 1997), “Nakahira Takuma: Degree Zero” (Yokohama Museum of Art, 2003), “Why an illustrated human-animal dictionary?” (ShugoArts, 2004) and “Why an Illustrated Yokohama Dictionary?” (ShugoArts, 2007). Major group exhibitions include Biennale de Paris (Bois de Vincennes, Paris, 1971), “Fifteen photographers today” (National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1974), “CHIKAKU: Time and Memory in Japan” (Camera Austria, Kunsthaus Graz, Austria, 2005) and “All Our Everydays” (Gallery VER, Thailand).