Seen: 昨日 Yesterday
Who: 佐藤 充 Mitsuru Sato / previously on TCS
Where: Red Photo Gallery, Shinjuku
When: August 1 - 14, 2016 / 12:00 - 7:00pm
Sato and 3rd District’s Tomona Hayashi are my absolute favorite ongoing photo exhibitors in Tokyo- Sato’s Yesterday series keeps on going and the going is GOOD. He has a distinct vision- a way of seeing, not thinking about ideas- that is truly his. Maybe it looks like what a lot of people consider “normal” but its essence is his and not ideas about what people think the work needs to look like. He does it for himself- It’s the difference between putting in the work vs. thinking a Magnum workshop will mint you as a Real Photographer.
Sato’s path is perhaps best explained in Stephen Shore’s brilliant Letter To A Young Artist:
A student might see a great work of art and say to himself, “This is a great work of art. I want to make a great work of art, too.” And so, the student sets out to try to do so. And if he has some talent, he might produce something that looks just as though it were a work of art - almost convincing. If one didn’t know any better one might actually mistake it for a work of art. The only problem is that the great work of art that the student so admired was not a product of these same motives. It was the by-product of the artist’s personal quest.
The by-product of Sato’s personal quest produces photographs that are beautiful, mysterious, quiet, and truly his.