River
by Hanna
(Photography from a series entitled “River” by Motohiro Takeda.)
Update (4/19): Sorry I didn’t write any reason for putting these pictures up. They are so dark, it’s hard to see what’s in them, but that is what drew me to them. If you look really closely, look at the monitor from different angles, and let your eyes adjust, you’ll see a Japanese house, its furniture, and objects like a doll, black and white photographs of ancestors, and a Buddhist altar (butsudan).
The question is, therefore, why did Takeda make these images so dark? It reminds me of the deep shadows of Rembrandt’s paintings and the blurred photograph paintings by Gerhard Richter, but such comparisons say nothing about Takeda’s motives.
According to Takeda’s website, he grew up in Japan, moved to New York when he was 21, and lives and works there still. Considering the Japanese theme, are these images expressing something about his own past? Are his memories of Japan so dark, so faint that it takes him a while to adjust his eyes to see them? If so, I think I understand. . .
Hanna, thank you for teaching me patience, one sees perfectly well, once the eye has adjusted
to the dark – I am very much drawn to those images. He is working on “the concept of memory”
and I asked the photographer I know and who will be at the auction to look out for him.
I will bit on the photo with the tree house …. do you have a favorite image ?
I wish, we could be there and see them in the real.
Liked a lot you pictures of Kyoto. Thanks for posting.
Have a good, quiet night.
CH