Exhibition/event has ended.
Luigi Ghirri “Works from the 1970s”
Taka Ishii Gallery
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Artists
Luigi Ghirri
From the early 1970s until 1992, when he passed at 49, Luigi Ghirri used color photographs to explore metaphysical images. He spent two decades producing an outstanding body of work characterized by unique chromatic and spatial sensibility. In this first solo exhibition of Ghirri’s works at Taka Ishii Gallery the focus will be on his works of the 1970s, considered an important period in the development of his oeuvre.
Ghirri grew up in the 1950s and 1960s during a time of economic growth and cultural transition. He familiarized himself with art at this time, and in the vein of conceptual art, one of the most popular movements of the era, he began making photographs collaboratively with other artists pursuing photographic images that were not merely documentary recordings. Founded on experimentalism, Ghirri’s photographic practice is neither characterized by the professionalism of the studio photographer nor the amateurism of the photo fan. Through photography, he aimed to address the complexity and incomprehensibility of the relation between the self and outside world. He trained his gaze at his subjects in order to acknowledge his positioning between the known and unknown.
The themes and concepts addressed in Ghirri’s works are exceptionally diverse, but his photographs constitute a series of dialectical explorations focused on “the gaze.” Through his practice, he ceaselessly, intensively, and gracefully explored the relation between reality and image. His photographs demonstrate that images, such as ads and posters in public spaces, can be analytically categorized into “images turned into reality” and “reality turned into images.” They also show that the partial extraction and erasure of the world through framing exposes the ambiguous boundaries of reality and the changing form of the landscape, and that images projected by the viewer both produce and erase the actual and fantastic. Ghirri’s photographs are products of a search for harmony and diversity carried out by examining metaphysical binaries, such as reality and appearance (or mimicry), actuality and representation, presence and absence, and inner and outer worlds, at the same level. They indicate that photographs are not faithful reproductions of the world, but rather an assemblage of fragments of the “seen” world. His works thus suggest that all photographs are testimonies of the gaze and pose an infinite number of questions about how we might think through the image.
A catalogue will be published in conjunction with the exhibition.
Ghirri grew up in the 1950s and 1960s during a time of economic growth and cultural transition. He familiarized himself with art at this time, and in the vein of conceptual art, one of the most popular movements of the era, he began making photographs collaboratively with other artists pursuing photographic images that were not merely documentary recordings. Founded on experimentalism, Ghirri’s photographic practice is neither characterized by the professionalism of the studio photographer nor the amateurism of the photo fan. Through photography, he aimed to address the complexity and incomprehensibility of the relation between the self and outside world. He trained his gaze at his subjects in order to acknowledge his positioning between the known and unknown.
The themes and concepts addressed in Ghirri’s works are exceptionally diverse, but his photographs constitute a series of dialectical explorations focused on “the gaze.” Through his practice, he ceaselessly, intensively, and gracefully explored the relation between reality and image. His photographs demonstrate that images, such as ads and posters in public spaces, can be analytically categorized into “images turned into reality” and “reality turned into images.” They also show that the partial extraction and erasure of the world through framing exposes the ambiguous boundaries of reality and the changing form of the landscape, and that images projected by the viewer both produce and erase the actual and fantastic. Ghirri’s photographs are products of a search for harmony and diversity carried out by examining metaphysical binaries, such as reality and appearance (or mimicry), actuality and representation, presence and absence, and inner and outer worlds, at the same level. They indicate that photographs are not faithful reproductions of the world, but rather an assemblage of fragments of the “seen” world. His works thus suggest that all photographs are testimonies of the gaze and pose an infinite number of questions about how we might think through the image.
A catalogue will be published in conjunction with the exhibition.
Schedule | May 27 (Sat) 2017-Jun 24 (Sat) 2017 Opening Hours Information
Opening Reception May 27 (Sat) 2017 18:00 - 20:00 | ||||
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | http://www.takaishiigallery.com/en/archives/20737/ | ||||
| Venue | Taka Ishii Gallery http://www.takaishiigallery.com/ | ||||
| Location | 3F Complex665, 6-5-24 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032 | ||||
| Access | 2 minute walk from exit 1b at Roppongi Station on the Hbiya or Toei Oedo line, 8 minute walk from exit 7 at Azabu-juban Station on the Nanboku or Toei Oedo line, 11 minute walk from exit 5 at Nogizaka Station on the Chiyoda line. | ||||
| Phone | 03-6434-7010 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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