Japan Exposures is pleased to present the work of Shinji Abe, who at 26 is one of the youngest — if not the youngest — photographers we’ve featured. It may come as something of a surprise to readers of this website, but Abe is one of a rather sizable group of young photographers who not only embrace film, the darkroom, and the vagaries of the street as their subject, but who also don’t have an online presence. In Abe’s case, he doesn’t even have a personal computer. Whether by design or happenstance, this makes Abe the ideal type of photographer we hope to feature even more on Japan Exposures as we begin 2010 — young, up and coming, and to borrow a phrase coined by noted street photographer Nick Turpin, “virtually invisible”.
When offline is becoming the new online, then the street is the new stage where the workings of at least some of Japan’s society are laid bare to be examined by a sharp and scrutinising eye such as Abe’s. Similar to photographers like Haruto Hoshi (featured previously on Japan Exposures), Abe bids a final farewell to the quaint snap of the old masters like Ihei Kimura and meets contemporary Tokyo in the streets of central Tokyo head on. These are not street photos showing amusing juxtapositions featuring people going about their daily lives. Abe’s photos have a delightful unnerving intensity and unrest, full of energy and vibrancy of life, yet despite their visual power they never appear confrontational or provocative for the sake of it. The images are a revelation of how much street photography in the civilised Japanese metropolis still has to offer. Radical, essential and absolutely inspirational.
Please also see our Cover Photo featuring Abe’s work.
UPDATE: a slide show with more photos from the exhibition is available on the Third District Gallery web site. [Click on the top postcard image; thanks to Aya Takada]
There are some strong images here (and some not so strong). However, I don’t buy into the “he doesn’t even have a personal computer” shtick. Lets judge him by his photography, not by his self-induced inconveniences.
Abe san may not have a personal computer, but he’s certainly visited flickr.com. Radical and essential? Inspirational? Not really. We’ve already had Daido Moriyama and Mr. Winogrand. There are plenty of photographers- Men and Women- more deserving of attention working in Tokyo today…people who know composition, exposure, and how to hold a camera. I know, Abe is a young guy…he’s having fun. But when he turns 30, he’ll probably disown (if not burn) what he’s doing now. By then, he will say to himself, “that stuff? that’s not what I wanted to say at all!” Then he’ll get to producing real work.
guys,
thanks for the early comments. allow me to offer a “rebuttal” of sorts.
clive, I don’t think we’re saying “he’s great or worthy *because* he doesn’t have a computer” — what we meant by saying a lack of an online presence “makes Abe an ideal person to feature on JE” was that we’re mainly about (or hope to be about) featuring undiscovered talent, and obviously someone without an online presence is going to be hard to discover outside of the select few who can see an exhibition of his work in Tokyo.
Jim, while I would admit that Abe-san at 26 is still in the learning, “derivative” phase of his career, surely you’re not saying that since we’ve had Moriyama and Winogrand there can be no others working in a similar vein (which would actually disqualify Moriyama himself, given that he’s essentially been repeating himself for the last 30 years 😉 ). Whether Abe-san will look back later on this work as juvenilia only fit for the funeral pyre is of course something no one — least of all Abe-san himself — knows, but from having met the young man, he doesn’t strike me as someone “having fun”. (If anything, as a general statement, I would say that a lot of the young photographers I meet take what they’re doing *too* seriously). Will Abe-san grow and mature and produce less-derivative work in the future? Again, don’t know, but my impression is he will. Nevertheless I would still question the premise that his later work will be more “real” than the work he’s doing now.
For the sake of what looks to be a good discussion I’m curious to hear which of these selected images could be thought of as “not so strong”, and why.
As another fellow out on the streets of Tokyo with a camera I would have taken complete pride in having any one of these images among my negatives.
And while we’re at it, let us know about these other “Men and Women- more deserving of attention working in Tokyo today…people who know composition, exposure, and how to hold a camera.” please. Perhaps we can approach and present them here. Thanks for reading.
Great discovery – thanks !
Staying focused on Abe-san, is there any publication yet for his work ? Would be happy to have this on paper.
John,
Here’s my $0.02.
In my opinion, the strongest image here is the #5 “uyoku” picture. The vehicle almost cuts the frame down the middle, creating two individual parts to one story. On one side, the reflection in the windscreen, the man in the passenger seat offering (returning?), rather half-heartedly, a pen and, of course, the driver’s hate-filled expression as he looks straight into the lens, and, on the other side, the white-shirted man (a cop?) veering, headless, away from the pen and out of the frame, as his hand reaches out, while the transaction is watched with a kind of tired enthusiasm by the stooped figure in the centre, creates a strong and lasting impression.
The weakest shots, in my opinion, are #9, #3 and #7 in that order.
#9 – Apart from the hand on the post to the right, I can find nothing in this image that holds my attention. The foreground is dominated by two backs of zero interest. The tilt serves only as a distraction. The girl in the centre of the frame has potential, but the photographer fails here to make use of it.
#3 – Although such scenes as this rarely fail to have an impact on all but the most heartless among us, this photograph doesn’t do the one here “justice.” Except for the lights bleeding into the dark, which I’m partial to, the whole left side of this picture holds nothing of interest for me. The bare feet and the character half out of the frame are all that makes this image, but again, the photographer could have done much more (they weren’t going anywhere…). And there’s that tilt again.
#7 – What I do like about this is the clutter and splash of signage across the print. However, I don’t feel that these strengths are enough to support this picture. The human elements, in particular, are a let-down.
I certainly don’t agree with Jim’s opinion. I think the problem here is simply one of selection. I bet Abe has a lot of superb photos hanging up to dry.
Also, as we don’t know how long he’s been shooting, I don’t think age should be an issue here. It’s not like he’s just turned 11.
wow! I’m loving all of the varied opinions I’m reading :0). Anyhow I’m glad to see abe or any photographer featured here on J-E. Don’t think I would’ve even heard of him if I had not been blessed with stumbling across this website when it was previously megaperls. You just don’t see this type of stuff here in the US. Anyhow, i know its not at all important, but when I see a photographer’s work that really moves me like Abe’s (among lots of others!) I have a dying need to know what gear he/she is using. Anyone know what type of camera/focal length/film he uses? Thanks again Dirk and Kirk for keeping up a great website! Each time I come here it is like a breath of fresh air and keeps my creative juices flowing! Mike from the US
When I see Abe’s work here I don’t immediately “get it” and I want to look further. And I want to see more of it. Good signs.
Dirk, you ask for tips. I’m not sure that this is the appropriate place for one; if it isn’t, don’t hesitate to move or delete. That said … I’d never heard of Hiramatsu Shingo å¹³æ¾ä¼¸å¾ till one day a couple of years back when I had time to kill in Shinjuku and strolled into Konica Minolta where he had a little show that impressed me. He’s a street photographer, particularly of Chinatowns in Japan and (more often) SE Asia. I thought that he wasn’t sufficiently ruthless in his selection but that his best (typically of people looking straight at him) were very good indeed. You can see his work at http://shenwu.jp . Starting next Monday, he has a show at Sokyusha (Shinjuku) of, it would seem, rather festive-looking election campaign events in Taiwan. It’s a show I’m definitely going to go to. No, not much relation to Abe, but, um … Hiramatsu too is out there walking the streets and shooting (120) B/W film.
These are all interesting photos, you can feel the film and wet darkroom, yet they are very contemporary.
Unrelated, I plan to re-use this line whenever I criticize art & photography on blogs:
“The human elements, in particular, are a let-down.”
There’s an interesting group show currently on at the Visual Arts Gallery, my local gallery on Waseda-dori in Nishi-Waseda. Worth it if only to see Ken Kitano’s remarkable portraits.
Dirk and Kurt (Kirk?), you might want to check it out for possible future JE galleries.
I particularly liked the work of Tanida Kohta and Matoba Yuko.