Starting October 25 (Tue) Guardian Garden will host the 15th “1_WALL” Photography Exhibition, part of an open competition for the right to mount a solo show at the gallery. The exhibition will feature works by six finalists after two rounds of judging: the first round focusing on all entrants’ portfolios, and the second round consisting of one-on-one discussions between the photographers selected in the initial round and the judges. In this group exhibition, each finalist is allocated one wall on which to show his or her works.
The final round of judging will take place on October 31 (Mon), i.e. while the exhibition is in progress. During this round, which is open to the public, the six finalists will each give a presentation of his or her works, and the judges will then discuss the relative merits of the six contenders’ works and select the Grand Prize winner. The winner’s prize is the privilege to hold a solo show at the gallery one year later, along with the right to prepare an exhibition pamphlet.
The fifteenth exhibition in this series brings together many works expressing unique worldviews from unique perspectives. Anpotan Rakan has compiled what he calls “My Confused Record,” a collection of previous works in which he photographed random subjects with a straightforward gaze. Yusuke Endo takes boldly constructed shots of decisive moments captured around town, his subjects rendered so as to be unidentifiable. Yuika Kihara creates imaginary portraits based on fragmentary information concerning unidentified corpses, gleaned from newspapers, official gazettes and police websites. Daisuke Tanaka has made a photographic record of an old elephant in the zoo in the city where he lives, right up until its demise. Daisuke Tomizawa, using a camera he received as a child from his father, now passed away, photographed his family’s everyday life in Taiwan, where he was born and raised, and now in Japan. Russell Scott Peagler presents a photographic record of a 12,000-kilometer journey around the United States, where he hails from, on a motorcycle he acquired by selling his cameras and photos.
We eagerly invite visitors to come and see all these works by these six upcoming young photographers, and to witness which finalist will collect the Grand Prize.
Anpontan Rakan
Born in 1984.
“Hybrid”
a sorry world in which even nihilism is trite
gods and buddhas are irrelevant
right and left are irrelevant
there’s no such thing as wings anyway
I’m a worthless scum who’ll get by
but I’ll make my foolish flower bloom and captivate
Yusuke Endo
Born in 1985. Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, concentration in Intermedia Art.
“Ghost’s Testimony”
I walked along – no, actually I ran – continuously taking photos of the street and people in constant motion. With these snapshots I’ll become No.1 in the world. I want to take photos with no end. I won’t let them end.
Yuika Kihara
Born in 1995. Currently a senior at Osaka University of Arts, Photography Department.
“Unidentified Dead People”
I create images of unidentified dead people based on written information about their distinguishing characteristics.
I gradually become uncertain whether these portraits spun from the written word are fact or fiction.
Daisuke Tanaka
Born in 1981.
“elephant sea”
I encountered a presence with deep, quiet waves like the sea and a memory far surpassing my imagination.
Enlarging the commotion within the silence, I become connected to this photographed objects I happened upon.
Daisuke Tomizawa
Born in 1993. Currently studying Intermedia Art at Tokyo University of the Arts.
“Memorial”
Photographs are egregiously skillful liars that simulate the truth, but the human memory is a rascal made from even worse lies and groundless assumptions.
Russell Scott Peagler
Born in 1980.
“Blood into Gasoline, or, Everything Shiny Goes Away”
I exchanged various things – my photo works, cameras, gun, and blood – for the scraps of paper we call money; and changing that into gasoline, I traveled 12,000 kilometers on a Harley across the all too vast American continent where I was born.
Born in 1985. Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, concentration in Intermedia Art.
Born in 1995. Currently a senior at Osaka University of Arts, Photography Department.
Daisuke Tanaka
1981 Born in Osaka Prefecture.
2006 Participated in resist photo workshop.
2011 “Kagerou” and “Hyohaku” solo shows at Gallery SHUHARI (Tokyo)
2014 Solo show “Hikari no sukima” at Gallery BRICOLAGE (Tokyo)
2014 Two-man show “Daisy Bell” at Hyakunen (Tokyo)
2015 Solo show “Tooku ni oyogu” at Gallery BRICOLAGE
2015 Solo show “Kage no sasoi” at Hyakunen
2015 Two-man show “little big world” at Paper Pool (Tokyo)
2016 Group exhibition “dix.vol1” at Quiet Noise (Tokyo)
2016 Solo show “Chinmoku no koe” at Rurodo (Tokyo)
2016 15th “1_WALL” Photography Competition at Guardian Garden
Awards
2005 Honma Takashi Prize at PHaT Photo Contest
2016 Grand Prize at 15th “1_WALL” Photography Competition
Daisuke Tomizawa
Born in 1993. Currently studying Intermedia Art at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Judges (in Japanese syllabary order)
Kotaro Iizawa（Photography Critic）
Born in Miyagi Prefecture in 1954. In 1984 he completed a PhD in Art at the University of Tsukuba. From 1990 to 1994 he served as editor-in-chief of the quarterly photography magazine “Deja-vu.” His recent publications include “Photobooks make the history!” (CMS) and “Archive of Contemporary Japanese Photography 2011-2013” (Seikyusha).
Atsuki Kikuchi（Graphic designer）
Born in Tokyo in 1974. He attended Musashino Art University, majoring in Sculpture. In 2000 he established Bluemark, and then in 2011 he founded his own design studio. His work areas include brand planning, logo design, signage planning, editorial design, etc., with a strong focus on art, fashion and architecture. He is also the principal of Book Peak, planners and publishers of art books.
Risaku Suzuki（Photographer）
Born in Shingu, Wakayama, in 1963. In 2000 he received the 25th Kimura Ihei Award in Photography for “PILES OF TIME.” His recent publications include “Water Mirror” (Case Publishing / Fine-Art Photography Association), “SAKURA” (edition nord), “Étude” (SUPER LABO), “Between the Sea and the Mountain – Kumano ” (amanasalto), “Ishiki no nagare” [Stream of Consciousness] (edition nord) and “Atelier of Cézanne” (Nazraeli Press).
Sayaka Takahashi（Gallery Director of PGI）
Born in Chiba Prefecture. Studied Literature at Waseda University under Osamu Hiraki. In 1998, she participated as a volunteer at the Higashikawa International Photo Festival, and from 2003 through 2010 served as the festival’s on-site production leader and assistant director. Since the winter of 1998, she has been involved in work relating to photographic preservation and display at Photo Gallery International (PGI), where as Director she is in charge of exhibition planning and operation.
Arata Dodo（Photographer）
Born in Osaka in 1974, raised in Nara. In 1995 he won the “Konica Introducing New Generation Photographers” Grand Prix. In 1999 he published the photo book “Ways of Shanghai 1994-1999” (Mole Press). In 2000 he received the Photographic Society of Japan’s Newcomer’s Award; in 2004, the New York ADC Jury’s Special Award; and in 2009, the Japan Advertising Photographers’ Association Outstanding Advertising Award. In 2012 he published the photo book “TAIGAN” (AKAAKA Art Publishing Inc.) and received the 38th Kimura Ihei Award.
Organizer: Guardian Garden
