Faculty, Department of Photography, College of Art
Nihon University Photo Exhibition
SKY II
Satomi Tanaka / Kenichi Kouta / Kazuto Hatori / Yuki Anabuki
- Dates
- Friday, December 6 - Thursday, December 12, 2019
- Time
- 11:00 - 19:00
Kenichi Kouta Profile
Born in 1949 in Chiba Prefecture.
Graduated from the Department of Photography at Nihon University College of Art, where he has been an instructor, assistant professor and, since 2000, full professor. He teaches introductory, practical, and seminar classes about electronic imaging. His research is focused on evaluation of color print quality and evaluation of camera image and printer image quality. In addition to academic work, he writes about digital photography and reviews equipment for several photography magazines and related publications. He is on the selection committee for the 2019 Camera Grand Prix. His creative work is mainly macrophotography of wildflowers. His hobbies include collecting and refurbishing classic cameras, collecting antique light meters, the history of modern audio equipment, and the history of modern cars (as a student he dreamed of being a racer).
Member of The Society of Photography and Imaging of Japan and The Japan Society for Arts and History of Photography
＜Books＞
“Introduction to Digital Photography”, Corona Publishing (Co-author)
“Introduction to Digital Camera Photography Starting with Photoshop Elements”, MdN
“Foundations of Digital Photography”, Corona Publishing (Co-author)
“Introduction to the Study of Digital Photography”, Dempa Shimbun
“Encyclopedia of Photography”, Society of Photography and Imaging of Japan/Asakura Publishing
＜Solo Exhibitions＞
- February 2012
- “Wildflowers / The Fairies Underfoot 2”
- October 2003
- “Wildflowers / The Fairies Underfoot”
Satomi Tanaka Profile
Born 1960 in Ishikawa Prefecture.
Having studied aeronautics in the Air Self-Defense
Force and worked in the corporate world, he was more
than 40 years old when he enrolled in the Department
of Photography of the Nihon University College of Art.
He completed a graduate program and is now an associate
professor in the department, mainly teaching the
basics of photography. His research focus is early photographic
techniques, and he is exploring ways to utilize
them in contemporary photographic work. His work
emphasizes photographic recording, in gelatin silver
black-and-white prints in formats ranging from 8x10
inches to 35mm. He attempts to complete better-quality
prints in every format, including film that has been exposed
to X-rays during airport security scans.
Member of The Photographic Society of Japan, The Society of Photography and Imaging of Japan, and The Japan Society for Arts and History of Photography
＜Selected Exhibitions＞
- 2019
- “Murono Then and Now – 1957 to 1972, and 2019”, Nunagawa Campus
- 2019
- “Paris perspective Atget et Marvill” Gallery Storks, Tokyo
- 2018
- “SKY Photo Exhibition by Faculty, Department of Photography, College of Art, Nihon University” Sony Imaging Gallery, Tokyo
- 2018
- “Living with the earth” (Collaboration), Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial (Tōkamachi, Niigata)
- 2017
- “From our workplaces”, 30th Meeting of the Japan Gerontological Urology Association
- 2016
- “Journey through the history of 35x35mm photography”, Gallery Storks, Tokyo
- 2015
- “Entrance/Geometry” Group Show, WACCA Ikebukuro
- 2014
- “Intersection Project – Parallel Intersections”
- 2013
- “Iron/Carving/Photography”, Collaboration with KURAKAKE Jun’ichi, Hoshi to Mori no Uta Museum
- 2013
- “A flower is not a flower”, Collaboration with KURAKAKE Jun’ichi, N+N Exhibition, Nerima Art Museum
- 2012
- “Yama no ueshita”, Collaboration, Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial (Tōkamachi, Niigata)
- 2011
- Typology Series No. 1 – “Entrance”, Gallery Storks, Tokyo
Kazuto Hattori Profile
Born in 1961 in Nagoya. Graduated from the Department of Photography at Nihon University College of Art. Worked for Nippon Design Center, Inc. before joining the Japan International Cooperation Agency where he served nine years in assignments at the Nairobi National Museum of Kenya, and the Chiang Mai Tribal Museum and the Ayutthaya Historical Study Center in Thailand. After returning to Japan he worked as a freelance photographer, and currently he is an associate professor of photography at Nihon University, leading seminars in all aspects of documentary photography. Since his student days, he has traveled frequently and made street snapshots in both digital and silver salt formats. He has also done fieldwork among the hill tribes of Laos and Thailand, making videos together with cultural anthropologists.
Member of the Photographic Society of Japan, The Japan Society for Arts and History of Photography, and the External Evaluation Committee of the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
＜Selected Exhibitions＞
- 2019
- “Stations, Trams and the Hustle and Bustle“, Sony Imaging Gallery, Tokyo
- 2018
- “Jennifer’s Wedding and Mogo’s Wedding Anniversary”, Gallery Storks, Tokyo
- 2015
- “Beyond the Window”, Gallery Storks
- 2007
- “From a Thai Hill Tribe Village”, Nagasaki Peace Museum
- 2000
- “People of Burma”, Kodak Photo Salon, Tokyo
- 1991
- “Ichigo Ichie (Special Occasion)”, FOTOSOFT Institute of Photography, Taipei
＜Selected Anthropology Videos＞
- 2013
- “Recreating Forests, Recreating Words”, collaboration with Mekong Watch
- 2012
- “Songkran: New Year Ceremonies in Chiang Mai, Thailand”, collaboration with Kanazawa University
- 2011
- “Past and Present in Ayu: Life in a Village of the Lahu Tribe in Yunnan, China”, collaboration with Kanazawa University
Yuki Anabuki Profile
Born 1984 in Kagawa Prefecture. He is a graduate, former research associate, and current assistant professor of the Department of Photography, College of Art, Nihon University. He teaches photography basics, and classes themed on fresh perspectives in image processing, science photography and other areas, as well as classes connected with student projects. His lifework is shooting casual everyday scenes using shift lenses and blurring. Recently he has been using new digital photographic equipment and techniques to create works that blend expressive techniques from various fields of art.
Member of The Photographic Society of Japan and The Japan Society for Arts and History of Photography.
＜Selected Exhibitions＞
- 2019
- Solo Exhibition, Gallery Kingyo (Tokyo)
- 2018
- The Time is Spring, Gallery Kingyo (Tokyo)
- 2016
- Solo Exhibition, Imai Kinpaku Gallery (Kanazawa)
- 2015
- Tokyo Snow, Gallery Kingyo (Tokyo)
- 2014
- My Scape, Gallery K (Tokyo)
- 2014
- About Memory, Gallery Kingyo (Tokyo)
- 2014
- In the Unhurried Flow, Gallery K (Tokyo)
- 2014
- Water Garden, Gallery K (Tokyo)
- 2013
- Botanical Portrait, Gallery K (Tokyo)
- 2013
- Botanical Portrait, Art Imagine Gallery (Tokyo)
- 2013
- Invisible, 315 Art Center (Seoul)
- 2012
- Beginning of the Journey, The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo
- 2012
- Solo Exhibition, Fine Art 21 (Takamatsu)
- 2011
- Accessibility, The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo
- 2010
- Sakura, Shinjuku Promenade Gallery (Tokyo)
Following on from last year, the Department of Photography at the Nihon University College of Art presents “SKY II,” showing photos by four full-time faculty members. The works were created with this exhibition in mind.
All these photographers are alumni of the department where they teach. They diligently learned basic techniques from their own teachers, and used them as the foundation for developing and practicing their personal expressive styles. Meanwhile they have been teaching, and their interaction with a continuous flow of students has regularly broadened their visions of photography and naturally led to a wide range of experimentation.
Yet teaching is their main profession, and education is a key focus as they produce their work. Despite being shot under various restrictions of time and location, their bodies of work are very thoughtful.
KOUTA Kenichi is showing mainly ultraviolet photos, as well as infrared and a few ordinary-light photos from his recent work. Ultraviolet and infrared radiation have wavelengths that are invisible to the human eye, and it is through photography that they can be visualized. Worlds available to butterflies and other insects but invisible to the human eye are reproduced. Since ultraviolet rays are colorless, the photos can be seen as collaborations between the photographer and the camera. At any rate, what they construct is a world that has been transformed and beautified and is yet the actual world.
TANAKA Satomi’s work is influenced by his academic research focus on early photographs and techniques. These recent works are tintypes, made with a wet collodion process. The theme, the ephemeral and transient unreality of any kind of phenomenon, is lofty, and he presents it symbolically through the “bodies”, “objects” and “plants” that are his subjects. The theme is only deepened by the black color that is characteristic of tintypes, as well as the overall process which includes a great deal of manual work and the ambiguous randomness of the finished image. This work dares to express worlds that are not visible in the actual world.
ANABUKI Yuki makes extensive use of new equipment and techniques and uses a variety of production methods to create a unique world of photographic expression. The work he is showing this year is done with a technique he started using in 2004. They are all shot with digital cameras at eye level with feet on the ground. Although the soft focus is not produced by the tilting of a large camera, there is a sense of vast space as if the view is from above. The scenes where people seem like miniatures are all real. While cutting away the actual world, this body of work is an original deconstructed world.
HATTORI Kazuto is a photographer who has exhibited extensively in recent years. After spending nine and a half years in Kenya and Thailand, he continued traveling internationally from a base in Tokyo while doing commercial work. Here he shows silver black-and-white prints as well as color photos displayed on monitors, from journeys in Europe, USA and Africa, between two and 25 years ago. Hattori’s gaze is fixed squarely on people, whether in the city or in nature. It is a record that could only be captured by photography, and the work somehow calls up memories that induce nostalgia. This is Hattori’s unique world, vacillating between the foreigner and the traveler.
This exhibition treats you to some very interesting original, never-before- shown works in which you will sense the breadth and depth of personal expression these four artists have passionately pursued.
Finally, I would like to express my deep gratitude to everyone who visits the exhibition and to Sony Imaging Gallery for providing this opportunity.