Daido Moriyama: Vintage Prints
Mt. Daibosasu (No. 2001), 1981 © Daido Moriyama
In recent years, Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama has been the subject of increasing curatorial and critical interest, a trend that culminated with large survey exhibitions of his work at the National Museum of Art in Osaka, Japan, in 2011 and, with photographer William Klein, at London’s Tate Modern until January 20. Now on view in Zurich is an exhibition of vintage prints at Galerie Bob van Orsouw. In addition to Moriyama’s familiar themes—close-up views of women seen from behind; light reflecting on cars; blurry shots of people passing through public spaces—the show also includes lesser-known landscape views. Moriyama’s high-contrast printing gives an almost hallucinogenic quality to the sea seen from above, the choppy water appearing like the hide of an enormous beast. The sunlight streaming around a giant sunflower nearly burns the edges of the image.
Aperture has enjoyed a fruitful relationship with Moriyama, which includes the publication of two books—the limited-edition TKY, in 2011, and the brand-new Labyrinth—and the re-creation of his 1974 performance Printing Show at our New York gallery. For more about Moriyama, see this interview, originally published in Aperture magazine issue 203.
The exhibition at Galerie Bob van Orsouw in Zurich remains on view until February 23, 2013.
