In IPY, Anrakuji represents herself as an alchemist of images and a catalyst for daydreams and desires. The vignettes of her self-portraits blur the boundaries between documentary and staged photography. Emi Anrakuji originally studied oil painting at Musashino University of Art and Music in Tokyo. By her mid-20s, she was diagnosed with a cerebral disease that severely curtailed her activities for more than a decade. During her gradual recovery, she took up photography. Initially, Anrakuji's audience was only herself and the jurors of public competitions to which she sent her entries. Since 2001, her efforts have earned her several important awards as well as increasing support from the art community. A prolific producer of images, Anrakuji often arranges her work as handmade books, one of which serves as the catalyst for IPY. A special edition with original print is also available. "Anrakuji suddenly appeared on the photography scene after more than 10 years of hiatus from art-making. She began to photograph seriously beginning in 1998. Combinations of various elements - eroticism, humor, cruelty, strange peacefulness, sharpness, and magical tricks - characterize her work. She is one of the most interesting up-and-coming photographers in Japan" (Kotaro Iizawa). Limited edition.
Hard cover , 14" x 10.1" (35.6 x 25.7cm)
80 pages
Edition: 1st, limited 500
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $60
Japanese artist Emi Anrakuji follows up on her recent artist’s book Anrakuji with a contribution to One Picture Book series. In it, she displays reproductions of her one-off digital prints (made by digitally printing the extraordinary self-portraits for which she is best known) onto e hagaki (picture postcards). The book concludes with an original, signed portrait printed over a vintage postcard. Each original print is unique, and signed and numbered by artist. Emi Anrakuji is a winner of the prestigious New Photographer Award at the Higashikawa Photography Prize in 2006. 16 pages, 16 four-color plates, 1 original print. Limited edition.
Hard cover , 5.5" x 7.25" (14.0 x 18.4cm)
16 pages
Edition: 1st, limited 500
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $150
This special edition of Anrakuji is limited to 30 copies. Each book comes with 2 original prints, numbered and signed by the artist and presented in a beautiful cloth-covered clamshell box.
Hard cover , 10" x 6.5" (25.5 x 16.5cm)
60 pages
Edition: 1st, limited to 30
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $750
Emi Anrakuji’s unsettling self-portraits and other subjects have earned her a growing recognition in her home country, and we are pleased to present her ?rst monograph to be published outside of Japan. The artist represents herself as an alchemist of images and a catalyst for daydreams and desires. The vignettes of jigsaw puzzle-like shots of herself and others blur the boundaries between documentary and staged photography. Posing naked, clothed, or partially dressed, Anrakuji takes a uniquely obsessive interest in her own body. Her legs, arms, hands, toes, lips and hair create arresting compositions and erotic ambience. When she focuses on the opposite sex, it results in equally surprising elaborations on the male anatomy. This obsession with the human body at its most intimate is a result, in part, from her long periods spent hospitalized: after graduating from art school in Tokyo in the mid-1980s, Anrakuji suffered a cerebral tumor that prevented her from making art for more than a decade. During her gradual recovery, she began to make block prints, then photographs. Emi Anrakuji is a winner of the prestigious New Photographer Award at the Higashikawa Photography Prize.
Hard cover, 10" x 6.5" (25.4 x 16.5cm)
60 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $100
This collection offers a privileged view of Tokyo's underworld by Japan's greatest photographer, Nobuyoshi Araki. Between 1983 and 1985, when Tokyo's sex industry was in full bloom, Araki prowled Shinjuku, Tokyo's famous red light district, taking pictures in the sex shops and clubs. His project came to an abrupt end when the district was closed by judicial decree in 1985. Araki's photographs form a historical record of Shinjuku's glory days and a portrait of a lesser-known side of Tokyo life.
Original Japanese edition. Out of print. This book is in good condition.
Soft cover, 8.3" x 5.2" (21.2 x 13.2cm)
269 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Ohta Shuppan
Price: Out of Stock: Please Inquire.
Araki once said of his beloved wife, Yoko that "She's the one who made me into a Photographer." This book contains the images of Yoko from the beginning of their relationship through her life till the end with her death in 1990.
Original Japanese edition. Out of print. The book cover has minor flaws. Pages are in very good condition.
Soft cover, 8.8" x 6" (22.4 x 15.2cm)
200 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Heibonsha
Price: $85
"Sometimes too, the beauty of Araki's work involves a degree of sadness in the very act of stealing an image from the world -- stopping it, removing it from the flow of time that never really can be stopped. Araki knows there is a contradiction in all of this. He knows that the eye's connection to the memory is itself a camera. He knows that joy is found in sadness, that death is part of life. Araki understands many things without questioning them, without judgement. Araki may "see" the same things as other people, but the way he looks at them is different from anyone else. This book, 'NOBUYOSHI ARAKI'S NEW YORK' contains some of his most beautiful examples." - Jim Jarmusch
Original Japanese edition. Out of Print. The book cover has minor flaws. Pages are in very good condition.
Soft cover, 8.8" x 6.1" (22.4 x 15.5cm)
256 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Heibonsha
Price: $85
"After all, photographing activity is documenting with dates for me. Photography is my life and dairy is to document that time. It feels suitable for me with dates. So, I never stop. I keep doing it till I die." - Nobuyoshi Araki
Original Japanese edition. Out of print. This book is in good condition.
Soft cover, 8.9" x 6" (22.6 x 15.2cm)
192 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Heibonsha
Price: $85
"I used to think that 'Faces' are the photograph. The face shows everything about that person because it had been exposed to the world since one's born. I just copy that. There is no way criticizing an era or the object, you should kneel down and photograph it. It's my way to pay homage to the objects." - Nobuyoshi Araki
Original Japanese edition. Out of Print. This book is in very good condition.
, 8.75" x 6" (22.2 x 15.2cm)
192 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Heibonsha
Price: $85
As the origin of Araki’s career, this book dedicates to lively shots of smiling, cheerful children during the 1950’s and 60’s. “Sa Chin” (a nickname of the boy he focused on) series marked Araki’s debut as a published photographer and also earned him the first Taiyo Award (a prestigious photography award in Japan)
Soft cover, 7.875" x 5.875" (20 x 15cm)
114 pages
Edition:
Publisher: Shinchosha
Price: $30
This is the twelfth in the hip Japanese fashion/style purveyor Hysteric Glamour's series of beautifully produced limited edition photography monographs. It is a stark, textural meditation on loneliness and isolation by one of Post-war Japan's pre-eminent photographers, Masahisa Fukase (of "The Solitude of Ravens" fame). Fukase produces a strange series of portraits in his bathtub with an underwater camera. The photographs in this book are selections from his 1983 series, “Walking Eyes.” Cloth cover with a protective sheet. Limited edition.
Hard cover , 10.2" x 9.1" (25.908 x 23.114cm)
80 pages
Edition: 1st, 468/700
Publisher: Hysteric Glamour
Price: $200
*All books we hold are signed by the artist. For a limited time, we also sell The Night Is Still Young together with a small original print ($75).
With The Night Is Still Young, Los Angeles-based, Japanese photographer Tomoaki Hata returns to his roots—the underground club scene of Osaka’s gay, nightlife district. Filled with intimate images of the radically-creative drag queens who performed at various venues in the city from the late 1990s through the present, this book is a peek into the underbelly of modern Japan.
Hata occupies a much-deserved place in the ranks of the great Japanese photographers—on par with the likes of Daido Moriyama and Nobuyoshi Araki—yet he achieved this rank not by following the example of these greats, but via the presentation of his own unique view of a slice of Japanese culture that otherwise remains largely undocumented. A passionate and intimate portrayal of the gender-bending performers as they cavort, both on and off the stage, Hata exposes this elusive subculture for the entire world to see.
Essays by Eric C. Shiner, the Milton Fine Curator of Art at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and by Simone Fukayuki is a chansonnier, party organizer, stage director, columnist in Japan.
Soft cover, 9" x 7.25" (23 x 18.5cm)
104 pages
Edition:
Publisher: powerHouse Books
Price: Out of Stock ($25)
*All books we hold are signed by the artist. For a limited time, we also sell The Night Is Still Young together with a small original print ($75).
With The Night Is Still Young, Los Angeles-based, Japanese photographer Tomoaki Hata returns to his roots—the underground club scene of Osaka’s gay, nightlife district. Filled with intimate images of the radically-creative drag queens who performed at various venues in the city from the late 1990s through the present, this book is a peek into the underbelly of modern Japan.
Hata occupies a much-deserved place in the ranks of the great Japanese photographers—on par with the likes of Daido Moriyama and Nobuyoshi Araki—yet he achieved this rank not by following the example of these greats, but via the presentation of his own unique view of a slice of Japanese culture that otherwise remains largely undocumented. Gay life and culture in Japan remains mostly secretive, and tends to take place within the safe confines of gay bars and gay districts that are many times hidden in plain view within the entertainment districts of major urban centers. A passionate and intimate portrayal of the gender-bending performers as they cavort, both on and off the stage, Hata exposes this elusive subculture for the entire world to see. The results are campy and combustible images of drag performers going full tilt. Glitter, glamour, sequins, and seediness are all on display, up-close and unrestrained.
Soft cover, 7.3" x 9.0" (18.5 x 23.0cm)
108 pages
Edition:
Publisher: AKAAKA ART PUBLISHING Inc
Price: $30
Naoya Hatakeyama is a leading figure in contemporary Japanese art. The subject of numerous books and exhibitions, Hatakeyama’s previous series such as Lime Works, River and Underground have received international critical acclaim. The photographs in the previously unpublished series Atmos were made in En Camarque, Fos-sure Mer in 2003, and are beautifully represented in this important new artists’ book. Hatakeyama photographed this industrial area from two distinct perspectives: from inside the mill located within the town’s borders, and from the outskirts of the town itself. The former document the terrifying power of machines man builds to produce goods; the latter reveal the dream-like variations in the surrounding landscape: salt fields, calm waters and pastures. The two bodies of work have been bound face to face within a hardcover case, allowing the viewer to create hundreds of double page spreads from the twenty-two reproductions. Hatakeyama’s photographs have been extensively exhibited in the United States, Europe and Japan. He was one of four photographers included in the traveling exhibition “Land of Paradox,” which toured the United States and Japan from 1996 to 1998.
Signed copy is available.
Hard cover , 12" x 9.5" (30.5 x 24.1cm)
52 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $75
Documentary evidence exists of 700 years of coal mining in the Ruhr District of Germany, one of Europe’s largest and most densely populated industrial regions. To this day, approximately 9.6 billion tons of hard coal have been mined in the state of North-Rhine-Westphalia. On June 30, 2000, almost 100 years of mining history came to an end in Ahlen with the closure of the Zeche Westfahlen, which had been opened in 1902 with the inauguration of the Bergwerkgesellschaft Westfahlen. The socio-economic impact of this closure has been enormous, and its ramifications continue to reverberate. Japanese artist Naoya Hatakeyama was commissioned by “Regionale 2004” to photograph in Ahlen from October 2003 until February the following year, documenting the sites and structures that were home to tens of thousands of workers for over a century. The resulting photographs provide a valuable record of this once all-important industrial area, culminating in the demolition and razing of the entire site. Visiting today, one would never know what had stood in the vast, now empty space. 49 four-color plates. Limited edition.
Hard cover , 11" x 13" (27.9 x 33.0cm)
80 pages
Edition: 1st, limited 2000
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $35 (40% off for display copy)
There can be beauty and art anywhere, even at the yucky underside of Tokyo where the photographer Naoya Hatakeyama ventured amid rats, bats, insects, mold-covered dung, and cold, mucky water. Only 5 meters below the bustling streets of Shibuya where the artist lives, the first several photos show what looks like shallow underground rivers in a concrete corridor. Underground includes near pitch black photos, and then contrasting photos with fantastic patterns and a rainbow of colors of what looks like mold or water or waste. None of the photos are captioned and it is hard to make out what exactly the picture depicts. So, what should be considered filth is released from the usual stigma and allowed to become something else completely, even perhaps beautiful. It's amazing to see the beauty Hatakeyama encountered in such a place.
Hard cover, 10.9" x 9.8" (27.7 x 24.9cm)
68 pages
Edition:
Publisher: Media Factory, Inc.
Price: $60
An acclaimed color monograph by Japanese-born photographer Naoya Hatakeyama (b. 1958). The Lime Works series documented unexpectedly beautiful and hidden world of the limestone/cement industry in his home country, Japan. From a white-dusted factory machine to a gouged mountain, Hatakayama's uncompromised social landscapes remind us what cost we pay to fulfill our desires to constantly build/destroy.
Hard cover, 12" x 10" (30.5 x 25.4cm)
120 pages
Edition:
Publisher: amus arts press
Price: $75
An acclaimed color monograph by Japanese-born photographer Naoya Hatakeyama (b. 1958). The Lime Works series documented unexpectedly beautiful and hidden world of the limestone/cement industry in his home country, Japan. From a white-dusted factory machine to a gouged mountain, Hatakayama's uncompromised social landscapes remind us what cost we pay to fulfill our desires to constantly build/destroy.
Hard cover, 12" x 10" (30.5 x 25.4cm)
120 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Seigensha
Price: $75
"I went back to Japan after seven years of absence, from north to south I traveled the country through the lens: images distorted, images real, only imprints remain today. . . years ago and years ahead perhaps, this Japan travels inside me like a long bamboo path" (Yuichi Hibi). Raw talent rarely express itself so forcefully as it does in Yuichi Hibi’s first book of photographs, Imprint. Born in Nagoya in 1964, Hibi has lived in New York since 1988. Trained as an actor and filmmaker, he began making still photographs shortly after his arrival in the United States. He found himself as much at home, and as much a stranger, in his new surroundings as he had in his old. Imprint opens with a facsimile of a handwritten note dated 1988, written to a friend in Japan, which serves as an introduction to the pictures that follow. The plate section itself is divided into two sections – one of New York and one of Japan – and the viewer follows Hibi through the nights and loneliness of both. Imprint is limited to 1,000 casebound copies.
Hard cover , 11.1" x 8.5" (28.194 x 21.59cm)
112 pages
Edition: 1st, limited 1000
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $39
"In October 2007, I was invited to Shanghai for a gallery opening of my work. It was my first visit to China . . . While the Chinese have a long and complex history, their collective spirit is very down to earth. I liken their spirit to a "good noodle soup" - a deceptively simple meal that can take hours to prepare but minutes to consume. I stayed in Shanghai for five days. From day to night the energy kept me awake. I walked everywhere. In dark, winding alleys I heard lone men prepare meals in a wok. I peeked in and watched as they ate, and saw how they lived. The streets were so dim that I often could not tell who was approaching me. Strangers would bump into me and then regard me with no emotion. The sounds, smells, and mysterious alleys reminded me of clichés from a vintage Chinese film. Experiencing this world required all of my senses and felt, in many ways, more authentic and enriching than much of my time spent in modern cities and cultures. Shanghai is a city that lives in the moment. Construction appears to be going on everywhere, every day. Landscapes seem to change by the second. The new is mixed with the old in Shanghai: its architecture, its fashion, its attitude . . . One day, I saw a father and son on a construction site. The father pointed to something far beyond the crumbling buildings, as if to show the son where they used to live. The father appeared confused . . . was he concerned that his roots were being erased, or that his world had changed too fast to even reflect upon? Shanghai made me question my own world: why is it that I am always searching for something nostalgic to hold on to?" Limited edition.
Soft cover, 11" x 7.25" (27.94 x 18.415cm)
14 pages
Edition: 1st, limited 250 copies
Publisher: L. Parker Stephenson Photographs
Price: $15
"Homma's children represent possibly the most radical break to ever occur between generations in all of recorded history" (Douglas Coupland). The work of Takashi Homma gains more attention than that of any other Japanese photographer, whether in the field of landscape, portraiture, fashion or advertising. "Tokyo Children" is his follow-up to an award-winning book about Japanese suburbia and shifts the focus from an environment to its inhabitants. Homma's characteristic dry gaze and light touch cannot dampen the astonishing results, instead emphasizing the individuality of his subjects.
Soft cover, 9.75" x 9.75" (24.8 x 24.8cm)
84 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Little More
Price: $65
"Scars generally carry a rather negative connotation. They are not shown to others, not exhibited in public, and are to be kept quietly hidden away, or measures are taken so that they won't be seen - they belong to an extremely private realm. I take photographs of such scars, which are so very like a personal secret. Illness, injury, accidents, war. These are all distressing, painful, unhappy experiences that one day, suddenly befall a person. . . we must all sustain and live with wounds, visible and invisible." - MIyako Ishiuchi
Fine purple cloth-covered boards with title stamped in black on cover and spine; no dust jacket as issued. Photographs and text (in Japanese and English) by Miyako Ishiuchi. Essay (in Japanese and English) by Aki Kusumoto. Includes a biography, exhibition history, publications, awards and collections. Designed by Koichi Hara, Takao Watanabe and En Yasuda (Trout). Unpaginated with 43 black-and-white plates beautifully printed in Japan.
Hard cover, 11.1" x 9.25" (28.2 x 23.5cm)
120 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Sokyu-sha
Price: $90
Photographic book by Kuniyoshi Kaneko entitled Drink Me Eat Me, Seven Oriental Beauties. A collection of highly stylized erotic images of Asian women.
Hard cover , 9" x 7" (22.9 x 17.8cm)
124 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Heibonsha
Price: $35
This book was self-published in conjunction with Takahiro Keneyama's solo exhibition SHUMAFURA at M.Y. ART PROSPECTS, New York in 2009. This series documents the birthplace of Kanayama's late grandmother, a depopulated small town in northern Japan, SHIMOFURO (or SHUMAFURA in native Ainu language). The houses, streets, harbors, and children in SHUMAFURA speak of righteous beauty, of the pride of a long enduring history, exploring the delicate lines between depression and melancholy, dullness and tranquility, and decay and beauty.
Hard cover , 10" x 8.25" (25.4 x 21.0cm)
74 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: M.Y. Art Prospects
Price: $65
Shades of the Departed quietly yet powerfully addresses universal themes that go beyond a particular culture or faith, exploring the trajectory of life, from birth to death. Takahiro Kaneyama creates transcendent photographic reflections on one of the holiest sites in northern Japan, Mt. Osore. According to traditional Japanese lore, this active volcano—whose name means “Mount Fear”—is the gateway to Hell, through which the souls of the deceased must pass on their way to the underworld. Every summer, this mythical place attracts many visitors who seek to remember and console the departed souls of their loved ones.
Soft cover, 6.75" x 6.75" (17 x 17cm)
40 pages
Edition: Limited 100
Publisher: Blurb
Editor: Takahiro KaneyamaPrice: $20 (regular $30)
Shades of the Departed quietly yet powerfully addresses universal themes that go beyond a particular culture or faith, exploring the trajectory of life, from birth to death. Takahiro Kaneyama creates transcendent photographic reflections on one of the holiest sites in northern Japan, Mt. Osore. According to traditional Japanese lore, this active volcano—whose name means “Mount Fear”—is the gateway to Hell, through which the souls of the deceased must pass on their way to the underworld. Every summer, this mythical place attracts many visitors who seek to remember and console the departed souls of their loved ones.
This special edition comes with a 5 x 7" archival pigment print signed and numbered by the artist.
Soft cover, 6.75" x 6.75" (17 x 17cm)
40 pages
Edition: Special limited edition of 6
Publisher: Blurb
Editor: Takahiro KaneyamaPrice: $120 (regular $150)
Carps, clouds, a curtain, a tire, fried eggs, grandfather, a butterfly . . . These are the details of the everyday life that are too easily missed. Seen through the lens of Kawauchi's camera, however, the ordinary shines with bejeweled patterns of light; even an ant transforms into statement of style. At the same time, the carcass of a dove proclaims the book's theme of the terror that exists next door to everyday beauty. This thoughtful debut photobook won awards for its graceful contemplation of mortality.
Soft cover, 9.75" x 7.5" (24.8 x 19.0cm)
130 pages
Edition: 3rd
Publisher: Little More
Editor: Gento Matsumoto, Shoko YamanaPrice: $48 (regular $55)
The second collection in Kawauchi's trilogy of photo books depicts the photographer's vision of a fireworks ("hanabi") show. The breezes of summer nights, the footsteps of children running alongside a riverbank, clouds portending warm showers and the sweet smell of apple candy are powerfully nostalgic, at once beautiful and melancholy. Out of print.
Soft cover, 9.5" x 7.5" (24.13 x 19.05cm)
70 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Little More
Editor: Gento Matsumoto, Shoko YamanaPrice: $30 (regular $35)
This photobook ties in with the documentary film of the same name. Hanako is a conscientious young woman who works diligently at a social welfare center. The photographer, after the style popularized by photobooks of idol singers and models, follows Hanako through her daily rounds of home, park, gymnasium and workplace. A heartwarming and idyllic work.
Soft cover, 9" x 7.5" (22.86 x 19.05cm)
46 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Little More
Editor: Hideki NakajimaPrice: Out of Stock ($30)
Rinko Kawauchi recently has done still photographs for the movie Nobody Knows and the cover photograph of the best-seller book Sekai-no-chusin-de-ai-wo-sakebu. In 2005, her activities will continuously extend to throughout the world. There has been a large-scale exhibition in Paris at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, as well as in New York and London. The works in Cui Cui are memories of Rinko's family which she has been shooting for 13 years. There are scenes of, family gathering in New Year's Holidays, wedding of older brother, grandfather's death, birth of a new life, and so on. Ordinaries of life pile up in the normal family. The photographs evoke the scenery of hometown with smell of people and earth. Repeating the encounter and separation, the family will keep alive in one's memory. It could be your family album, which will stir a memory of days gone by.
Soft cover, 9.5" x 6.5" (24.1 x 16.5cm)
230 pages
Edition: 3rd
Publisher: Foil
Price: $45 (regular $55)
A century has passed since the first Japanese Immigrants arrived to Brazil. Invited by MAM (Museu de Arte Moderna, Sao Paulo), Rinko Kawauchi took new series of photographs of, from Japanese Brazilian community, the scenery of the great nature and animals living there, everyday life of its inhabitants, to the Rio Carnival, through her three times visits to Brazil. Sao Paulo, Belem, Tome-Acu, Campinas, Londrina, Iguacu, Pananal, Bonito, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Luis, Lencois Maranhenses . . . Holding the overwhelming energy, every moments in Brazil is inscribed beautifully, delicately, and sometimes nostalgically in Rinko Kawauchi's images. The different races and cultures, the disparity in wealth, festivals and everyday life, and the country, where all the things are mingled. The rhythm of life are welling up from the chaos. In this new series of work, you will see a new ground of Rinko Kawauchi, which she found in Brazil. "What I wanted to see might be be the immense power of Brazil, a country able to absorb everything like the so-cold Devil's Throat, which swallows Iguacu Falls' main flume in a deafening roar" (Rinko Kawauchi).
Soft cover, 11.75" x 8.5" (29.8 x 21.6cm)
184 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Foil
Editor: Junichi TsunodaPrice: $50
"He has been reflective when others have been militant, romantic when others have been skeptical. Such isolation can starve all but the most independent of talents, but for these it can provide a sanctuary where visions can develop undisturbed. Kenna is one of these." – Joanna Pitman, The Times (London) Michael Kenna’s photographs have long inspired words such as mysterious, elegant, and hauntingly beautiful – adjectives that likewise describe the Japanese landscape. The photographs in Kenna’s important new monograph, Japan, are the result of an ideal pairing of artist and subject. Kenna has had a large following in Japan ever since his first exhibition there in 1987. His many subsequent exhibitions and publications in Japan have provided him with ample opportunities to visit and photograph. During the past several years, as this project began to take shape, Kenna’s trips became more frequent and intense. The resulting images are stunning. Superbly printed in tritone, Japan is hardbound in red cloth and presented in a Japanese folding slipcase. Text in Japanese and English by Kotaro Iizawa. Publication coincides with a series of exhibitions in the US and Japan.
Hard cover , 12" x 13" (30.48 x 33.02cm)
108 pages
Edition: 3rd, limited to 3000
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Editor: Hideyuki Taguchi, Chris PichlerPrice: $50 (display copy special)
When Michael Kenna’s now-legendary book Japan was published in 2003, it was hailed as not only the most beautiful of the artist’s numerous publications, but also one of the most powerful and successful photographic works on place that has ever been published. In this monograph, Hokkaido, Kenna has refined his clarity of vision to a whole new level. The Northern Japanese island of Hokkaido has abundant natural forests, clear lakes, and magnificent mountains. It is perhaps best known for its intense and brutal winters. Snow and ice make many parts of the island inaccessible and the local Sea of Okhotsk routinely freezes over. Kenna has been photographing throughout Hokkaido, in these extreme conditions, for the past several years. The 84 photographs in this book are the result of his explorations. Beautifully printed on heavy, uncoated Japanese paper using special black inks, Hokkaido is bound in thin maple wooden boards and housed in a special slipcase. The book is designed by renowned Japanese designer Hideyuki Taguchi, and opens with an introduction by Daido Moriyama. A limited number of copies from the first and only edition of this important book.
Hard cover , 12" x 13" (30.48 x 33.02cm)
104 pages
Edition: 1st, limited to 5000
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $50 (display copy special)
This book was published in conjunction with Mayumi Lake's solo-exhibition Poo-Chi at M.Y. ART PROSPECTS, New York, 2005. Mayumi Lake’s series of color photographs focuses on the "wakinoshita" (armpit), presenting this often neglected part of the body in a discomforting new light. The images in this book are not what they at first appear to be. Look again, and closely. Know what the true subject is, and while some unease might remain, any revulsion turns to curiosity, admiration and perhaps even delight. The "wakinoshita" Lake portrays with such intimacy and originality are shown in a wide array of “poses”; dressed with crochet, lace, embroidery, fake fur, these obviously adult bits of body take on a diverting, playful look. But underneath the soft and feminine drapes nestle the dark hairs and folds of flesh that give Lake’s work a decidedly unsettling edge. As with all illusion, there is more here than meets the eye: the viewer is drawn time and again to take another, deeper look. Originally from Osaka, Mayumi Lake moved to the United States to study at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and at Rhode Island School of Design. In 2000 she was awarded the Bruce Goodman Memorial Fellowship. Lake’s photographs and videos have been shown at a number of prominent venues in the United States, Asia, and the United Kingdom and Germany. An introduction essay by Joanna Frueh.
Hard cover , 10" x 8" (25.4 x 20.3cm)
32 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $35
Published in conjunction with her solo-exhibition Ex Post Facto at MIYAKO YOSHINAGA art prospects, in this calm yet emotionally charged photographic narrative, Japanese artist Mayumi Lake traces her family history back some 60 years and revisits her childhood fantasy of bringing back her Grandfathers, both of whom were killed in combat during World War II. Rural landscapes evoke memories of battlefields, and female portraits pay tribute to those who suffered the loss of their loved ones. This book is hardcover, measures 5.5 x 7.25 inches, and has 6 four-color plates with one original print within 16 pages. Limited edition.
Hardcover, 7.25" x 5.5" (18.5 x 14cm)
16 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $150
Daido Moriyama is without question one of Japan’s most important contemporary photographers and it is not surprising that this memoir, first published as a series of essays in Asahi Camera twenty-one years ago, is regarded as a classic in photographic literature. In Memories of a Dog, Moriyama approaches photography through language, and it is difficult to say which is the more evocative medium. His vividly expressive prose is in perfect harmony with the grainy, black and white images that in turn have a poetry all their own. As both reader and viewer one becomes completely absorbed, and photographs that will always be remarkable are given a new, very personal, layer of meaning. This is an eloquent autobiographical account of the artist’s progress through life – the places he’s lived and traveled to, the newsreel theater that was like a “second school,” the bars, the coffee shops, and his journey to take his mother’s ashes to be with those of his father. From his earliest sensations of being, to the realization that he has become “willy-nilly and much to my regret, an adult,” Moriyama shares his idea of memory, and “the individual history that goes by the name, I.” A signed edition is also available.
Hard cover , 10" x 7" (25.4 x 17.8cm)
192 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $55
This heavy, glossy, slipcased, reprinted reinterpretation of the legendary 1972 book, Farewell Photography, brings a much-sought-after classic back into print under the strict supervision of the artist, Daido Moriyama. Together with the publisher, Moriyama worked with larger prints and chose higher contrasts, abolishing all text in order to emphasize the dynamic, broken, blurred, vertiginously tilted, starkly cropped and timeless photography reproduced here. Moriyama is one of the most respected and influential photographers today, and this book bears the testimony of his early work, with all of its alluring landmark elements. Almost resulting in mayhem, these accidentally continuous black-and-white images can feel both invasive and intimate, as they freeze the animate and inanimate world before it is gone. An overwhelming torrent of early talent by an extraordinary artist.
Hard cover , 11.6" x 9" (29.5 x 22.9cm)
176 pages
Edition: 2nd
Publisher: Power Shovel Books
Price: $200
For this second volume in the Witness series, Daido Moriyama, as artist and editor, presents work in which – although not immediately apparent – reality collides with imagination. First he presents his own photographs, taken in Shanghai in – a place he had visited for the first time only the year before, but one that had been present in his mind since childhood. Moriyama was born in , the year after Shanghai was occupied by Japanese forces. The port city came to embody “a city of drama, romance and exotic seductions.” Coupled with his boyish dreams of becoming a sailor, this image of Shanghai stayed with him for a long time. These pictures are the reality he found as he wandered the streets with his camera. Moriyama also presents the work of two other Japanese artists: Emi Anrakuji’s jigsaw puzzle-like portraits of herself – naked, clothed or partially dressed – blur the boundaries between documentary and staged photography. Ken Kitano has photographed numerous people of the same age or having the same occupation, and has then exposed dozens of the negatives, one at a time, onto a single sheet of paper. The resulting “Piling Portraits” are amazing. Witness is published by Joy of Giving Something, Inc, and distributed by Nazraeli Press. This item is out of print.
Hard cover , 9.5" x 12" (24.1 x 30.5cm)
96 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Joy of Giving Something Inc, and Nazraeli Press
Price: $55
“Yumiko Naito, from Hokkaido in northern Japan, likes to photograph mysterious and desolate landscapes. Her recent series, LANDs END, captures the power of such places in Ireland and England. In her photographs, everything on earth - humans, plants, animals, sky, ocean, rocks, clouds - seems to have a soul and all relate to each other in beautiful harmony. In her eyes, these dark places hold bright hopes and nameless anticipation. Almost paradoxically, they invite us with the heartwarming encouragement of home” (Kaori Kamisawa). Cleverly designed, each of 12 color plates in this pocketsize catalog can be used as a postcard.
Soft cover, 5.75" x 4" (14.5 x 10.0cm)
26 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Art Cocoon
Editor: Miki KubouchiPrice: $10
- BANTA - In Okinawa, the precipitous cliffs that fall hundreds of feet to the ocean below are called banta.
For years I have carried with me a vivid memory of the first time I stood atop these cliffs—a memory of beauty in the endless blue expanse of sea and sky intensified by the fearsome height and history that met my downward gaze.
Five years later this memory drove me to revisit and descend those very cliffs. Standing at its feet for the first time I felt in the cliff’s full visceral weight something so powerful that I was initially unable to take even a single photograph. The shadows seeping from the cliff's surface, the white craters riddling the cliff's coral limestone, and the charred black caves were stark reminders of all that these cliffs had witnessed.
I returned to my studio after six months of researching and exploring the South Pacific Theater with thousands of image files of the cliffs to piece together. As I re-shaped and re-experienced the original digital images, these cliffs became a metaphor for Okinawa’s history as well as digitally-manipulated, hyper-real vision of my experience standing between fear and beauty on Okinawa’s banta.
Softcover, 10.5" x 7" (26.5 x 18cm)
40 pages
Edition: 1st, signed copy
Publisher: Self published
Price: $40
This weighty volume published in January, 2011 brings together Takuma Nakahira's substantial body of work shot for and published by Japanese photography magazines like Asahi Camera, Design, Photo Art and Nakahira's own Provoke, from 1964 to 1982. There are 65 photo essays in all, including all major Nakahira series that would end up in his books like For a Language to Come. Like the two books of fellow Provoke-ist Daido Moriyama's magazine work put out by the same publisher in 2009 (Nippon Gekijou 1965-1970 and Nanika e no tabi, 1971-1974), the series are presented just as they were published in the original magazines, so one can see how the pieces were laid out.
Softcover, with dustcover and obi. 18.5cm x 25.5cm x 4cm (thickness). 649 pages. Essay about the work by Minoru Shimizu, and list of photo essays reproduced, in Japanese only.
Soft cover, 10" x 7.25" (18.5 x 25.5cm)
649 pages
Edition:
Publisher: getsuyosha
Price: $85 (regular $100)
For 11 years, photographer Masataka Nakano has kept watch for the most impossible of scenes: central Tokyo street scenes inhabited by nobody. This book contains cityscapes shot at Shibuya Station, Ginza streets and other familiar landmarks. Anyone who has visited those spots will be shocked to learn that Nakano's unpopulated photographs were achieved without computer retouching. See all-too-familiar sights in an entirely different light.
Soft cover, 8.5" x 10.5" (21.6 x 26.7cm)
98 pages
Edition: 8th
Publisher: Little More
Price: Out of stock
This compact and beautifully printed exhibition catalogue features over 50 black and white portraits and still-lives by Iwata Nakayama (1895-1949), including rarely exhibited masterpieces spanning from 1915 to 1948. Nakayama was co-founder of Ashiya Camera Club and a leading figure in the New Photography movement in Japan in 1930s.
After being sent to Califronia State University for training in photography by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Nakayama quit studying and moved to New York in 1919, where he opened a portrait studio on Fifth Avenue two years later. In 1926 Nakayama moved to Paris where he met surrealist artists Man Ray and Italian painter Enrico Prampolini, and was influenced by the Bauhaus and Constructivists and other avant-garde movements. In 1927 he traveled to Spain before returning to Japan later that year via Berlin and the Soviet Union. In 1930, Nakayama co-founded the Ashiya Camera Club, one of the pioneering organizations of the New Photography movement. New Photography based itself on the teachings of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Alexander Rodchenko and other photographic experimentalists. Major exhibitions at the Ashiya Camera Club exposed Japanese photographers to European and American avant-garde and opened up a new era in Japanese photography. Nakayama also wrote for several photographic magazines during the 1930s, experimenting with photograms, photo-montages or the use of obtuse angles, distorted reflections and time-lapse exposures.
This catalog was published to accompany "Nakayama Iwata: Reconstructing a Master Heritage," in 2008-2010 organized by Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography and Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art. Exhibition essay by Ryuichi Kaneko, curator at Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, is in Japanese.
Hard cover, 9.25" x 7.5" (23.4 x 19.0cm)
68 pages
Edition: 2nd
Publisher: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
Price: $35 (regular $40)
A set of two exhibition catalogues. The two catalogues are from "Nakayama Iwata: Reconstructing a Master Heritage" held at Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography and Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art from 2008-2010, and from "Nakayama Iwata Retrospective: A Photographer and Prewar Kobe" held at Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in 2010.
Hard cover, 9.25" x 7.5" (23.5 x 19.0cm)
311 pages
Edition:
Publisher: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art
Price: $50 (regular $65)
This compact catalogue, featuring more than 250 images, gives a retrospective look at Nakayama Iwata (1895 - 1949), a leading figure in Japanese New Photography movement in 1930s, as well as prewar Kobe as a unique international city. Nakayama was based in prewar Kobe and Ashiya and made remarkable achievements in various types of photography, from constructivism to portraits and advertisements. Part one is a comparative exhibition of his new prints and vintage prints. Part two introduces nostalgic Kobe (landscapes) before the war. As a bonus, the book also features in its last chapter the rare evocative portraits of Eastern European Jews who came to Kobe as short-time refugees in 1940-1941. Entitled "Displaced Jews," these photographs were taken by the six members of Tanpei Photography Club" (丹平写真倶楽部) namely Kaneyoshi Tabuchi (1917-1997), Kametaro Kawasaki (1902-1990), Osamu Shiihara (1905-1974), Nakaji Yasui (1903-1942), and Kono Toru (1907-1984). These Jewish refugees were there as a result of their earlier contact with Chiune Sugiura, a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania who issued a transit visa to those who threatened by Nazi Germany, knowing his decision was against Tokyo and may result in severe punishment to him and his family. Accompanying essays by Shusaku Sagara and Tadashi Kobayashi, as well as artists' biography and a list of images, are all in Japanese.
Hard cover, 9.25" x 7.5" (23.5 x 19cm)
120 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art
Editor: Hyogo Prefectural Museum of ArtPrice: $25 (regular $40)
“The moment I feel like a plant, or like a bug alighting on a flower, I release the shutter. When I’m not in this heightened state, I may shoot a beautiful flower beautifully, but that is all. For me, the process of photographing a flower is something more, something that goes beyond the flower. When I’m photographing well, I am always floating on another plane – a place between this world and the world beyond” (Mika Ninagawa). About ten years ago, the Japanese critic Kotaro Iizawa coined the expression “onnanoko shashinka,” which loosely translates as “girlie photographers.” He was referring to a hugely popular group of young Japanese women photographers whose subject matter – simple, everyday things – was captured using a “point-and-shoot” technique. Mika Ninagawa has been described as second generation “onnanoko shashinka,” a very skillful photographer with perhaps a more mature approach to her work – but still with a wonderful mix of fun and flair. The pictures in this stunningly beautiful book are large and saturated, a dazzling array of flowers, trees, grass and insects – close-up and ablaze with color. Acid Bloom is an electrifying body of work. This first Nazraeli Press edition is limited to 1,000 copies.
Soft cover, 9.5" x 13" (24.1 x 33cm)
80 pages
Edition: 1st, limited to 1000
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: Out of Stock
In 1950, while studying fashion drawing in Japan, Toshiko Okanoue had no confidence in her ability to draw and claimed to know almost nothing about the history of art. Working with scissors, paste and a stack of lifestyle and fashion magazines, she cut out the photographs that – in her own words – “fit my dreams” and arranged them on black flocked paper. “Those scraps of my fantasies turned into strangely interesting things,” she said, “things I would not have thought of. Emboldened and delighted by the results, I made one collage after another.” When an exhibition of her work opened in Tokyo in 1953, Okanoue’s collages were described as “a contemporary version of Alice in Wonderland.” Surreal in appearance, they are perhaps most remarkable for what they represent: a young Japanese woman’s perception of the Western way of life, as seen through her artless rearrangement of images clipped from such magazines as Life and Vogue. The work reproduced here was made between 1951 and 1956. In 1957 Okanoue married the painter Kazutomo Fujino and ceased making pictures. The publication of Drop of Dreams coincides with an exhibition of Okanoue’s collages at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Introduction by Ryuichi Kaneko.
Hard cover , 8.5" x 11" (21.6 x 27.9cm)
72 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Editor: Mayako IshiwataPrice: $30 (40% off for display copy)
Yuki Onodera has, variously, used transformation and intervention techniques, straight photography (of scenes she set up herself), found photographs, and digital photomontage, the links between them being intellectual rather than visual. For Transvest, the artist has made montages not only from images she has taken herself but also from newspapers, magazines, video and other media, using both traditional cut-and-paste methods and the more sophisticated digital technology. Her silhouettes, made from magazine clippings, stiffened and set upon a glass platform, are instantly recognizable – the soldier, the scuba diver, the tap dancer, the mother and child. Onodera has selected the shapes of the figures for their evocative capacity and the sense of déjà-vu they convey. We are sure we know what is there, but still must conjure up the details for ourselves. Alongside these stark and stylish figures are more complex pictures; scenes that include the ripple of a lake’s surface, night-time at a harbor, mountain slopes, ruined buildings, indeterminate animals – a range of subjects of disproportionate size collected together and placed on a surface of darkness. As with the silhouettes, the closer you look, the more you see – both on the page and in the imagination. Essay by Dana Friis-Hansen.
Hard cover , 17" x 14" (43.2 x 35.6cm)
62 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $40 (display copy special)
Harumichi Saito, winner of Canon's New Cosmos of Photography Award, is one of the most remarkable young photographers in Japan. Many of his photographs are of disabled people, or of minorities within Japanese society. His photos overflow with light and clarity, as he draws a dignity and radiance out of his subjects, which are not limited just to people: he also photographs animals and landscapes. As a photographer, Saito's distinguishing feature is the way he faces his subject directly, which allows the viewer to experience the pure beauty of his photographs. His works express a living, breathing world beyond all classifications or boundaries.
Softcover, 8.66" x 11.22" (22 x 28.5cm)
140 pages
Edition: 1st edition, signed copy
Publisher: AKAAKA art publishing
Price: $45
HERB & DOROTHY - You don't have to be a Rockefeller to collect art, a film by Megumi Sasaki, tells the extraordinary story of a postal clerk and a librarian who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means. In the early 1960s, when very little attention was paid to Minimalist and Conceptual Art, the Vogels quietly began purchasing the works of unknown artists. Devoting all of Herb's salary to purchase art they liked, they collected guided by two rules: the piece had to be affordable, and it had to be small enough to fit in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. Within these limitations, they proved themselves curatorial visionaries; most of those they supported and befriended went on to become world-renowned artists, including Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel, Sol LeWitt, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Richard Tuttle, Chuck Close, Robert Mangold, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Lynda Benglis, Pat Steir, Robert Barry, Lucio Pozzi and Lawrence Weiner. HERB & DOROTHY provides a unique chronicle of the world of contemporary art from two unlikely collectors, whose shared passion and discipline defies stereotypes and redefines what it means to be a patron of the arts.
DVD, 7.5" x 5.5" (19.05 x 13.97cm)
87 pages
Edition:
Publisher: Arthouse Films
Price: $25
Photographs of "I Love Yu," a combination of art installation and public bath house (sento) on Naoshima Island, where visitors can experience bathing in the artwork. The facility was designed by Japanese artist Otake Shinro whose scrapbook like style incorporates recycled objects from all over Japan.
Soft cover, 4.125" x 3" (10.5 x 7.5cm)
72 pages
Edition:
Publisher: Seigensha
Price: $25
Published in conjunction with an exhibition held in 2007 at Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, this catalogue features color photographs that have been selected from Suzuki’s series on the motifs of the Kumano region, snow, and cherry blossoms. The photographs are placed in seasonal order, providing an insight into the artist’s approach, which swings like a poetic pendulum between the moment and eternity.
Hard cover , 9.75" x 7.75" (24.8 x 19.7cm)
136 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Tankosha
Price: $35 (regular $45)
2010 reprint of Kiyoshi Suzuki's first photobook, Soul and Soul, which is now very hard to come by, 40 years after the original.
Hard cover, 8.25" x 9.25" (21 x 23.5cm)
91 pages
Edition:
Publisher: hakusuisha
Price: $75
"I came to New York to find something that I’d always wanted. I did not know what it was. Now I know. It was happiness. That was the beginning of the story" (Madoka Takagi). Madoka Takagi’s long-awaited first monograph, My Place, previously existed only as a self-published artists’ book. The Museum of Modern Art and The Getty Museum each acquired a set for their permanent collection. Traveling throughout the city with an 8 x 10-inch view camera and making elegant contact platinum prints, Takagi may not have found happiness but she did start a story: a tale etched in light and metal about finding a place and making it special. From the Municipal Building to the Cathedral Saint John the Divine, from Coney Island to Roosevelt Island, from East Houston Street to Frederick Douglas Boulevard, from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the Bronx Zoo, Takagi finds a city transformed by a magical light into a place of stillness and beauty. This book is a facsimile of one of the original artists’ books, printed in a limited first edition of 1,000 copies.
Hard cover , 12" x 12" (30.5 x 30.5cm)
72 pages
Edition: 1st, limited 1000
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: $60
Japanese artist Kazuumi Takahashi's stunning first monograph, High Tide Wane Moon, explores the relationship between the moon and the ocean. The son of a fisherman, Takahashi grew up near the sea. The schedule of the tide influenced his daily planning, just as the moon in turn influenced the tides. In this large-format book, Takahashi presents 25 double-page spreads, each with a photograph of the moon on the left side, and a corresponding photograph of the ocean on the right. Every double page thus comprises a beautiful diptych in which the viewer is enveloped in water and sky. Collectively, the photographs pay homage to forces that have inspired our dreams, and influenced our ways of life, since the beginning of humankind. Takahashi's work has been widely exhibited throughout Japan. We are pleased to make it available to an international audience with this publication. Printed in a first edition of 1,000 casebound copies, High Tide Wane Moon closes with an essay by Shino Kuraishi, Curator of Photography at the Yokohama Museum of Art. This limited edition book is out of print.
Hard cover , 14" x 11" (35.56 x 27.94cm)
56 pages
Edition: 1st, limited to 1000
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: Ou of Stock ($70)
Emerging photographer Mariko Takahashi employs a variety of fresh flowers, fruits, jellies and candies for her photographs in an unusual way. They are chaotically but thoughtfully arranged until their shapes and colors become scrambled like a strange but delightful dish or slightly grotesque organic wastes, or even, as the series’ title suggests, “intestines in rainbow colors.” This compact catalogue was published in conjunction with her solo exhibition at Tokyo’s photographers’ gallery which promotes young emerging photographers.
Soft cover, 9.75" x 7.5" (24.8 x 19.0cm)
20 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Photographers' Gallery
Price: $12
Won a prize at Hitotsubo Award, well-known gateway of young photographers, Toyama came out to the world of photography. The youth between darkness and lights can be seen in her works that applauded by Miyako Ishiuchi.
Soft cover, 8.3" x 11.7" (21.0 x 29.7cm)
112 pages
Edition:
Publisher: artbeat publishers
Price: $55
This 2006 limited-edition monograph presents the work of the legendary Japanese photographer Shoji Ueda (1913-2000), whose retrospective exhibition A Subtle Line was on tour in Europe from 2005 to 2008. Ordinary people, landscapes, and street scenes seem frozen before his camera and yet these images gradually reveal the characters of their subjects. More than 150 subtle black and white photographs, originally published in Camera Mainichi (Japan’s renowned photo magazine like Life) from 1974 to 1985, are exquisitely reproduced in this volume. The book features a yellow cloth cover with a clear acetate protective jacket. We have only one copy available for this out of print item.
Hard cover , 9" x 10.25" (22.86 x 26.035cm)
168 pages
Edition: 1st, 678/1000
Publisher: Hysteric Glamour
Price: $300
To create "Yoake," Yu Yamauchi lived on the summit of Mt. Fuji for almost five months straight--four years in a row. During this time, almost two and a half years, Yamauchi photographed the sunrise ("Yoake") from this point nearly 3000m above sea level. The results of this effort are often spectacular: at times the photographs almost seem to show an alien world, full of brilliant yellows, searing oranges, and radiant blues. But this book is not just about showing a beautiful scenery which is far removed from our daily lives. By reaching a point as far away from the earth--and as close to outer space--as possible, Yamauchi asks the viewer to consider the fragility of their own existence. The unique printing of the book features a dust jacket which folds out into a full-size poster.
Softcover, 11.75" x 8.75" (29.6 x 22.5cm)
96 pages
Edition: 1st, signed copy, sold out edition, only available here.
Publisher: AKAAKA art publishing
Price: $175
Following the success of almost sold-out softcover edition "Yoake," the same publisher released this newly designed hardcover edition "DAWN." Although they keep the exact contents (same color plates), this edition is also more accessible to oversea readership with an insertion of artist's statement in English.
To create "Yoake," Yu Yamauchi lived on the summit of Mt. Fuji for almost five months straight--four years in a row. During this time, almost two and a half years, Yamauchi photographed the sunrise ("Yoake") from this point nearly 3000m above sea level. The results of this effort are often spectacular: at times the photographs almost seem to show an alien world, full of brilliant yellows, searing oranges, and radiant blues. But this book is not just about showing a beautiful scenery which is far removed from our daily lives. By reaching a point as far away from the earth--and as close to outer space--as possible, Yamauchi asks the viewer to consider the fragility of their own existence.
Hardcover, 12" x 9" (30 x 23cm)
96 pages
Edition: 1st.
Publisher: AKAAKA art publishing
Editor: Art Director: Kazuya KondoPrice: $75
In The White Casket, Japanese artist Miwa Yanagi has created a bizarre fantasy world inhabited by department store “elevator girls.” In upscale Japanese department stores, the elevator girl performs the role of a hostess, directing customers to their destinations while lending an aura of elegance to the shopping experience. The position of elevator girl is a highly-prized one; those holding this position are selected by management, and are expected to exude youth, innocence and beauty. In The White Casket – the collective title for the work as presented here – Yanagi takes advantage of digital technology to create virtual spaces composed of elements from several different locations, creating elaborate settings in which the elevator girls live as “prisoners in paradise.” Miwa Yanagi is a pioneer in contemporary photo-based art. Her work is included in important public and private collections throughout Japan, the US, and Europe. The White Casket documents this well-known body of work in a large-format, beautifully-reproduced monograph. The first printing is limited to 2,000 copies, of which 100 copies comprise a special edition featuring accordion-bound covers and an original signed print.
Hard cover , 15.25" x 13.5" (38.7 x 34.3cm)
72 pages
Edition: 1st, limited to 2000
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Editor: Sansei KimuraPrice: $50 (display copy special)
Miwa Yanagi's surreal photographs borrow on diverse elements ranging from film noir to fairy tales, such as those of the Brothers Grimm. The collection here tells a variety of visual tales which reflect on themes such as age, beauty, and mythology, depicted through the actions of a young and a old woman. Elegantly presented and bound in an embossed cover, the photographs come accompanied by an interview with the photographer herself.
Hard cover, 11" x 9.6" (28 x 24.4cm)
92 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Seigensha
Editor: Hitomi KintaniPrice: $70
"I am interested in history which is constructed by accumulation of people's memory and leads to our imagination. I take photographs not just because I am attracted to the form of a subject, but also because I want to express an individually unique, hidden psychological fact, 'beyond the visual image'" (Tomoko Yoneda). Between Visible represents unique perceptions of some major intellectual figures of the late nineteenth to middle twentieth centuries: Sigmund Freud, Herman Hesse, James Joyce, Gustav Mahler, Junichiro Tanizaki, Le Corbusier, Mahatma Ghandi, and Leon Trotsky. Key objects that helped shape the work of these scholars are viewed through their actual eyeglasses giving tiny clues to various aspects of their lives. "Between Visible and Invisible" refers to the correlation between the image on the surface (the visible) and the unknown narrative beneath the surface (the invisible) which when revealed changes the context of the photograph. Since graduating from art school in 1991, Tomoko Yoneda has exhibited widely in the United States, England, Japan, and Russia. Between Visible is her first monograph. Introduction by Kotaro Iizawa. A special edition, presented in a clamshell box with an original print, is also available.
Hard cover , 14" x 11" (35.5 x 27.9cm)
32 pages
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Price: Out of Stock