Weather Report: Japan

Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts

11.3.11

8.9

Too all my family in Japan.
Thoughts are with you.

Taken from the Atlantic.

24.2.11

BLOODWORK: HORIYOSHI III

all those who attempt to dive into his event horizon

...torn into atoms.

the remains of their grand allusions

...a fine blood mist.

merciless no...
for those of us cowering in the cold
shadows he lets escape and cascade
upon us precious photos (from so many swallowed
suns) for to enlighten all of our lives.

Horiyasu continually astounds me with his technical prowess. After every visit I'm always left speechless and ashamed. Speechless as its hard to define the beauty he achieves within the medium. Ashamed because his attention to detail makes tattoos by others (me) appear lazily lackluster.

ASAKUSA

an apparition that grew

more real with every kiss

she evaporated

into the damp darkness

of the city's night

in the infinite

streets he waits

fornever

BLOODWORK: FILIP LEU

While we were shooting in London late last year Filip requested that, on our next visit to Japan, we photograph the suit he did for Shige to include in the BloodWork: Bodies project. It was a request we were honored to fulfill.

BLOODWORK: SHIGE

Rie chan arigato Oaska kara kitekurete. Gomen!

23.2.11

BLOODWORK: SHIGE

It's rare that a tattooer can walk the bridge between generations. It's even rarer to then transcend and create an entirely new mountain.

22.2.11

BLOODWORK: SHIGE

Spent a full and productive day photographing Shige and his clientele in Yokahama.

Dinner afterwards with the whole group. Gochisousama Shige san.

BLOODWORK: NAGOYA

Substandard iPhone photo but I couldn't help but post this one from the Nagoya sleepover.

20.2.11

BLOODWORK: BLIND DRIVIN'

Sometimes you gotta let go to live. Usually, if you do let go, you're lucky to live. Here Masa reinforces the statement while he drives(?) to the aforementioned black op location.

Photo: Max Dolberg

17.2.11

BLOODWORK: NAGOYA

Received word that we needed to travel north in the morning. Anonymity is required for certain parties during this part of our adventure, so its prudent we don't reveal exactly where.

Instead of driving back to Osaka, we decided to stay overnight in Nagoya. Found a nice place for to crash. Mornings, however, are irrelevant at this point in the game. Can hardly discern where on the planet we are, let alone what day or time it might be...

Photos: Max Dolberg

BLOODWORK: HORIGYN

First stop on the last Japan BloodWork capture campaign, Horyigin's Sword of Rebel in Nagoya. Always good to see an ol' friend.

We were here last year to photograph his clientèle for the coming book. Now we are back to capture images of the same collectors for the 360 photos that will accompany the book.

Photo: Max Dolberg

14.8.10

TOKYO: BASARA

While in Tokyo I, alongside many others, attended the Basara exhibition at the Spiral Gallery. An interesting visual intermingling that highlighted aesthetic beauty and resistance simultaneously, two subjects I am particularly fond of.

A number of creatives contributed in an diversse swash of mediums but those I readily recognized and/or am a fan of were: Shige, Tenmyuouya Hishashi, Ikeda Manabu, Maru Waka, Tetsuya Noguchi, and Hitozuki.

The contribution of most interest to me, socially speaking, was Shige's clientèle. The significance of this will not likely present itself unless one has a broad understanding of (assuming the reader does) tattoo culture in Japan but, to my knowledge, this was the first exhibition of live tattooed bodies at a substantial public space within Japan in modern history.

Although, in Japan there are other times tattoos are displayed in public, such as the Sanja Festival in Asakusa, this display by the Yakuza is not officially sanctioned. Nor is notice taken by those in the "high art" (hate that phrase) circle of snobbery.

Also, as the NSKolectiv we did do an exhibition of live backpieces in Osaka during 2007, but this milestone is not as significant as the current for two reasons: 1) As was all things we did/do the event was intentionally DIY, taking place at the Three Tides Gallery which is located below a tattoo workspace. Therefore the expected attendees were directly associated with the local tattoo community not the overall civilian population. 2) We, as foreigners, were allowed a certain degree of social lax in which to put something like that on.

Spiral Gallery, on the other hand, is a public art space in the heart of Tokyo. The exhibition was sanctioned by a third party not directly associated with tattooing. Shige's work was tethered with other creatives working in more socially acceptable mediums. Anyone could attend and a broad array of people did from an equally broad cross section of social sects, which are much more defined than, for instance, back in the States.

I was duly impressed by the significance of the event. Was an honor to see something like that go down. Well played.
Tenmyuouya Hisashi

Ikeda Manabu

Tetsuya Noguchi

Shige

13.8.10

MY OTHER CAR IS A DEKOTORA

Dekotora trucks are so over the top, out the window, and into outer space. Cycling through all sorts of ridiculousness before circling back to really cool.