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Tsutomu Otsuka "Trans-Body"
Fugensha
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Tsutomu Otsuka
This exhibition commemorates the publication of the photo book "Trans-Body" by Fugensha.
Tsutomu Otsuka was born in 1951 in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, as the son of a fisherman. He graduated from Tokyo Polytechnic University in 1971. During the rapid land reclamation projects that transformed the rich, shallow seas of Urayasu, the reclaimed land became a creative space for Otsuka. Between 1969 and 1972, he produced several experimental films using an 8mm camera and began photographing the reclaimed landscapes in 1971.
This exhibition features approximately 40 works from Otsuka's new photo book "Trans-Body," which compiles his three major series: "Rhizome," "Earth’s Marks," and "Trans-Body." These series were created using Otsuka's unique method known as "marsh development," which involved bleaching photographic paper and submerging it in a marsh for a week. This natural darkroom process imbues the photographic paper with distinctive brown and blue hues, sometimes leaving patterns of decayed leaves and floating silver, resulting in prints with a unique material presence.
The images, obtained by combining multiple negatives of close-ups of male and female body parts, including his own, and plants, appear as primordial life forms that dissolve the boundaries between male and female, human and plant, life and death. The "marsh development" process seems to return these life images to the earth’s amniotic fluid, the marsh.
Additionally, this exhibition will feature works created using "silver development," a method Otsuka employed after visiting Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture, post the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. He copied numerous album photos washed away by the tsunami and boiled the photographic paper with leaf mold on a hot plate, causing the images to silverize. This method condensed 100 years into a single print, expressing a convergence of memories and time through the materiality of the photograph.
The exhibited works embody the senses of soil and water nurtured in the zero-meter zone of Urayasu and the physical experience of self-performance in filmmaking after the original landscapes were cleared. They also reflect an experimental spirit toward the medium of photography, resulting in an exhibition and photo book that represents the pinnacle of Tsutomu Otsuka's work.
During the exhibition, there will be a gallery talk with the photo critic Kotaro Iizawa, who has long been acquainted with Otsuka's work and contributed to the newly published photo book.
Tsutomu Otsuka was born in 1951 in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, as the son of a fisherman. He graduated from Tokyo Polytechnic University in 1971. During the rapid land reclamation projects that transformed the rich, shallow seas of Urayasu, the reclaimed land became a creative space for Otsuka. Between 1969 and 1972, he produced several experimental films using an 8mm camera and began photographing the reclaimed landscapes in 1971.
This exhibition features approximately 40 works from Otsuka's new photo book "Trans-Body," which compiles his three major series: "Rhizome," "Earth’s Marks," and "Trans-Body." These series were created using Otsuka's unique method known as "marsh development," which involved bleaching photographic paper and submerging it in a marsh for a week. This natural darkroom process imbues the photographic paper with distinctive brown and blue hues, sometimes leaving patterns of decayed leaves and floating silver, resulting in prints with a unique material presence.
The images, obtained by combining multiple negatives of close-ups of male and female body parts, including his own, and plants, appear as primordial life forms that dissolve the boundaries between male and female, human and plant, life and death. The "marsh development" process seems to return these life images to the earth’s amniotic fluid, the marsh.
Additionally, this exhibition will feature works created using "silver development," a method Otsuka employed after visiting Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture, post the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. He copied numerous album photos washed away by the tsunami and boiled the photographic paper with leaf mold on a hot plate, causing the images to silverize. This method condensed 100 years into a single print, expressing a convergence of memories and time through the materiality of the photograph.
The exhibited works embody the senses of soil and water nurtured in the zero-meter zone of Urayasu and the physical experience of self-performance in filmmaking after the original landscapes were cleared. They also reflect an experimental spirit toward the medium of photography, resulting in an exhibition and photo book that represents the pinnacle of Tsutomu Otsuka's work.
During the exhibition, there will be a gallery talk with the photo critic Kotaro Iizawa, who has long been acquainted with Otsuka's work and contributed to the newly published photo book.
Schedule | May 31 (Fri) 2024-Jun 23 (Sun) 2024 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | https://fugensha.jp/events/240531ohtsuka/ | ||||
| Venue | Fugensha https://fugensha.jp/about/eng.html | ||||
| Location | 5-3-12 Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0064 | ||||
| Access | 17 minute walk from the West exit of Meguro Station on the Tokyu Meguro, Namboku, Toei Mita or JR Yamanote line; From the West exit of JR Meguro Station, take the Tokyu bus and get off at Moto Keibajo Mae. The venue is 1 minute walk from there. | ||||
| Phone | 03-6264-3665 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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