Gallery
Ken Kitano Gallery
The medium of photography was invented out of our strong desire to create a likeness of our reality — and ourselves in it. We then learned that the camera would see what our eyes never could — time being brought to a standstill. However, in actuality during the early days of the medium the relationship of photography and time was quite the opposite; long exposures, often using all of the daylight of a full day, had to be used to record a visible image onto the light-(in)sensitive material. And large format photographers to this day know of the tragic mistake of accidentally inserting their film holders more than once and recording multiple exposures involuntarily, spoiling the image. Ken Kitano masterfully takes us back to these immutable properties of photography creating images that we may have had already relegated to history. Images with deep substance, but with no detectable moment.
The terms flow and fusion ring ever so true when looking at these images. The flow of time, an hour, a day or even more, fusing in an eternal cosmic moment. The flows and traces of different lives of distinct individuals, unified in what could be the very essence of a human being.
Japan Exposures is honored to have the opportunity to present an extended gallery of Ken Kitano’s work. Please also see our profile of Kitano.
Kitano’s book our face is available in the Japan Exposures bookstore. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Kitano’s Flow and Fusion, please contact us.
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- Ken Kitano, from Flow and Fusion -- Harumi
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- Ken Kitano, from Flow and Fusion -- Demonstration, Shibuya, Tokyo
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- Ken Kitano, from Flow and Fusion -- Tokyo Dome
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- Ken Kitano, from Flow and Fusion -- Shibuya, Tokyo
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- Ken Kitano, from Flow and Fusion -- Seibu Amusement Park, Tokorozawa
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- Ken Kitano, from our face -- 39 People Floating Lanterns Down the River Motoyasu in Memory of Atomic Bomb Victims on August 6, 2004, Hiroshima
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- Ken Kitano, from our face -- 20 Women Washing Themselves in River Ganges in Varanasi, India, 2008
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- Ken Kitano, from our face -- 35 Esoteric Buddhist Monks of the Shingon Sect Studying at KOHYA Mountain Specialty School, Wakayama
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- Ken Kitano, from our face -- 20 Students in the 5th Grade in Elementary School (N.U.R.S.) in Nairia Village in Jessore State, Bangladesh, 2008
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- Ken Kitano, from our face -- 24 Guards, Tiananmen Square in Beijing, 2009
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- Ken Kitano, from our face -- 23 Female Muslim in Burqa, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2008
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- Ken Kitano, from our face -- 31 Workers Watching Films at Open-air Theater in Front of Shopping Mall in Beijing (Most of them are migrant workers who work on construction sites), 2009
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- Ken Kitano, from our face -- 34 Costume Players who Came to the comic Market in Taipei City, Taiwan, 2009
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- Ken Kitano, from our face -- 30 Geikos and Maikos Dancing the Special Kyo Dance in the Spring, Miyagawa Town, Kyoto
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- Ken Kitano, from one day -- Enoshima Beach
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- Ken Kitano, from one day -- Ground Zero, Hiroshima
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- Ken Kitano, from one day -- Mt. Fuji
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- Ken Kitano, from one day -- Classroom, Kanagawa Kenritsu Soubudai High School
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- Ken Kitano, from one day -- Sumidagawa, Tokyo
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- Ken Kitano, from one day -- Tsutenkaku, Osaka
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- Ken Kitano, from one day -- Shinjuku, Tokyo
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- Ken Kitano — from One Day Ken Kitano was born in Tokyo in 1968, and graduated from Nihon University's College of Industrial Technology in 1991....
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February 5th, 2010 at 16:08
This is really interesting stuff, very unique style and great photos.
February 19th, 2010 at 10:16
I dont understand what the fuss is all about here? The “portraits is derivative of so many 1970-1980′s artists Benetton Ads and Black book work. HOw are the images Dynamic? Surprising? front and centered looking is dull and due to its nature it becomes predictable. It reminds me of Tokyo Nobody, gimmicky and pointless. Try flipping through a few 1970-1990′s Japan photo books and this work disappears into irrelevancy. Good luck. I hope he can grow, but I predict that this work looks very dated in less than 5 years and will be tossed onto the scrap heap of …
April 13th, 2010 at 17:33
OWL = Pretentious Hater
April 29th, 2010 at 1:01
‘owl’ 9 times out of 10 it will be a lack of intellectual scope which inhibits someones ability to connect to significant works of art. If your first reaction to someones work is unsure, don’t close yourself off to it because you don’t have the necessary knowledge to understand it. Approach it as a challenge and seek the necessary information you require to connect with it. That way you’ll have the benefit of understanding that persons work, you will have applied the new found knowledge, and you’ll be wiser for it. Don’t however pass judgment rooted in ignorance as you will only stand to look stupid and will be none the wiser. Applied knowledge is wisdom my friend. We have enough people in this world unwilling to participate who reside in a perpetual state of ignorance.
As a photographer and artist myself this is the first time I’ve come across Ken Kitanos work and I’m very impressed and inspired by it.