Daido Moriyama
“Hawaii”
July 27-August 25, 2007
Taka Ishii Gallery is pleased to announce “Hawaii”, our solo exhibition with artist Daido Moriyama. In the late 60s, “Japan, A Photo Theater”, 1968, was published.
Moriyama’s photography has been described as “grainy, out of focus and high-contrast”. Such radical expression defied then present photographic conventions. Since then, he has published “Farewell Photography”, 1972, “Light and Shadow”, 1982, “Daido hysteric”,1993-97, “Shinjuku”, 2002, and others; all works having an enormous impact on the world of photography.
In recent years, Moriyama won the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Photographie (DGPh) award, 2004. Retrospectives include “Daido Moriyama: Stray Dog”, 1999, San Francisco MOMA, U.S.A., “Hunter of Light – Moriyama Daido 1965-2003”, Shimane Art Museum, Japan, “Daido Moriyama”, 2003, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, France, and “Retrospectiva desde 1965”, 2007, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Spain.
Three years ago, I just desired to photograph Hawaii and make a book.
That was an unexpected inspiration for me. So then – I went to Hawaii five times.
Almost “my Hawaii” will be the photo book.
Hawaii has shaken up a lot of memories, such as the memory of a wave, the memory of a forest, the memory of a rainbow, the memory of stars, and then the memory of darkness….
Daido Moriyama
Hawaii, “I had never felt like sightseeing, had never been interested in it, but I was always concerned with this.”
When Moriyama started shooting, he just decided to“photograph Hawaii in Black and White”, but it seems like a fluctuating perception of a trip to nowhere and a return to Moriyama’s original starting point.
This is the eighth solo exhibition presented by the artist with the gallery, The exhibition will include, 70 new works produced from 2004 to 2007.
Publication：Daido Moriyama Hawaii published by Getsuyousha （available
at the end of July）