MINORU HIRATA – ACTION, THE 60’S
2014-05-12The exhibition will include 41 images selected from the vast archive of photographs that Hirata took of Japanese avant-garde artists’ actions in the 1960s.
In the 1960s, when postwar Japan went through many fundamental changes, there was an explosive movement of young artists who left their studios and staged “actions” in the streets to critique the state of society and to challenge the stagnant art world.
Holding a camera in my hand, I witnessed the “charged moments” created by these artists whose actions were at once fresh and photogenic.
What I saw through the lens became Photo Art when transferred onto paper.
Minoru Hirata
Minoru Hirata was born in Tokyo in 1930. As a freelance photojournalist, he documented the activities of avant-garde artists of the 1960s, such as Jiro Takamatsu, Genpei Akasegawa, and Natsuyuki Nakanishi (Hi Red Center), Yoko Ono, Ushio Shinohara and Zero Jigen. At times, Hirata proposed photography-based projects to the artists in an effort to create a broader recognition and understanding of their works. He was thus more of an intimate collaborator than an outside documenter.
Exhibition runs through to May 31st, 2014
Taka Ishii Gallery Photography/Film
AXIS Building 2F, 5-17-1
Roppongi, Minato-ku
106-0032 Tokyo
Japan
