Mundane and Strange

"Half Awake and Half Asleep in the
Water" (2001) by Asako Narahashi

Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan
Bill Wood's Business
International Center of Photography
May 16-Sept. 7

Photography -- it's big in Japan. Seriously. Think Canon, Nikon, Minolta. The country loves to shoot. And in the last 20 years, fine-art photography has received increased attention with the opening of the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, the first public museum there devoted to the medium.

Now, the ICP has organized a survey of 13 contemporary Japanese photographers, amazingly the first show of its kind in nearly 30 years (since the museum's last survey in 1979). Uneven but eye-opening, "Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan" illuminates aspects of Japanese culture and approaches to photography, from the traditional to the cutting-edge.

On the time-tested end of the spectrum, is the show's standout artist, Naoya Hatakeyama, whose stunning photos highlight human manipulation of nature. Reminiscent of the environmentally minded images of Edward Burtynsky, Hatakeyama's photos look at the link between the surreal landscape of a limestone quarry, the texture of Tokyo's buildings seen from above and that city's odd concrete-lined rivers.

The work of Asako Narahashi is equally preoccupied with nature, although from the other side -- namely its lethal power over us. His unique photos of the urban skyline taken from offshore and a partially submerged perspective bring to mind unsettling thoughts of a tsunami or drowning. (See image above.)

Equally disturbing are Yukio Nakagawa's photos of ikebana, the art of Japanese flower arranging, transform the petals and stems into menacing representations of violence and gore. Traditional or transgressive or both? A more upbeat and goofy take on organic arrangements can be seen in Tsuyoshi Ozawa's "vegetable weapons" project: photos and video that document his friends making and holding rifle-shaped constructions made of corn, peppers, cauliflower, etc. -- all which end up as a meal.

Some of the work functions like a travelogue (and a lot cheaper than a round-trip to Tokyo). Masayuki Yoshinaga documents the subcultures of "Goth-Lolis," teens who dress in outlandish hybrid of babydoll Lolita and goth black (see image at right), and bosozuku motorcycle gangs, whose embroidered robes and headbands pay homage to the samurai. And Hiroh Kikai's street portraits show a more individualistic and humanistic side, with images of a tattoo artist and his son, a dancer and a kimono-wearing man watching horse racing on a portable TV. The elegant monochromatic prints are reminiscent of both Richard Avedon and Diane Arbus.

Indebted to Cindy Sherman is Tomoko Sawada, whose post-Photoshop "School Days" series constructs a formal school portrait using herself as a model for each of the students, all eerily similar with slight variations of height, hairstyle and facial expression. (As an aside, I happened to see Sherman at the museum; she was with her beau David Byrne; but much to my regret, I didn't witness her reaction to Swada's work. Ms. Museum Hours and I imagined that Byrne would have said something like "it's another one, Cindy honey!")

Also in back-to-school fashion is Midori Komatsubara, whose "Sanctury" photos and video sketch a story of romance between classmates inspired by Japanese "boy's love" comics that are popular with young women. Komatsubara ups the sexual ambiguity by using female models for her schoolyard fantasies. The result is perplexing the viewer not familiar with the genre. In a similar vein, Makoto Aida fashions and photographs surreal hybrid sculptures of bonsai trees with the heads of doe-eyed girls. A less ambiguous exploration of gender are the gothic fairytale photos of Miwa Yanagi, which invert the outcome of classics like Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, imagining the victim as victor.

Less successful are the sloppy and dull grouping of Naoki Kajitani, who takes scattershot images of seedy neighborhoods, and Risaku Suzuki, who takes sequences documenting his daily comings and goings. More perplexing is the inclusion Kenji Yanobe, whose creepy video installation — a kind children's theater about atomic disaster — opens the show.

Supplementing the show is a room with four videos, including mini documentaries on Hatakeyama and Suzuki (both produced by the Joy of Giving Foundation) alongside a captivating portrait of bosozuku motorcycle gangs and an childish animation by Yanobe.

While not quite the Telectroscope, "Heavy Water" offers a unique peek into Japan. And even if all its offerings aren't captivating, the show may leave you with a better understanding of the intriguing and sometimes bizarre push-pull between the traditional and the contemporary, both in Japan and, more generally, in photography.

For more weirdness, check out the smaller exhibition "Bill Wood's Business," which presents 210 photos taken by the Fort Worth-based commercial photographer. The show is curated by actress and photo collector Diane Keaton, who culled the images from vast archive of photos by Wood — some 20,000 large format negatives she purchased in the 1970s and has promised to the museum.

Woods is no genius, and despite the success of his photo business, few of his images stand on their own. But this isn't about beautiful compositions, but rather a host of strange and sometimes uproarious juxtapositions, simultaneously mundane and surreal.

Cleverly arranged in two dense grids, the eyes naturally jump photo to photo, taking in a surfeit of goofy and weird Mid-century Americana: a team photo of middle-aged basketball team wearing sailor outfits; a magic show at a bingo parlor; a clown cop arrests two blackface prisoners; Miss Lion Lightbulb poses in her swimsuit, holding two large bulbs; a store display of Roach Destroyer; a businessman wears a crown; Santa waves from a powerboat; a bacon billboard; dead bodies in caskets; large gears; a TV-slash-record player console; a smiling man prepares to cut a cake with an axe; a candy-striped playground in a drive-in movie theater; a lawn furniture showroom; an Indian chief in feather headdress holds bowling ball. And so much more!