Seen: Gankotoshi
Who: Issei Suda 須田一政
Where: Akio Nagisawa Ginza
When: September 17 - December 21, 2019
(11:00–19:00 / CLOSED | Sun., Mon., National Holidays)
An Issei Suda show is always worth getting excited about- the current exhibition of vintage prints titled “Gankotoshi” at Akio Nagisawa Gallery in Ginza is no exception. Suda, who passed away in March of 2019, had noticed that he kept photographing eyes when out on the streets over the decades he worked. Many of these were signs for optometrists or eyeglass shops and the repeated motif of a stylized, unblinking single eye- in particular how it looks back at the viewer from the print and through Suda’s lens- is mesmerizing.
Much like Lee Friedlander’s “box” approach to creating photo series, Suda’s eyes here are evidence that the long game makes room for a slowly unfurling and marvelous kind of vision.
Coinciding with the exhibition is an exquisitely printed photobook of the work with the same title- one designed to match the previous Suda publications from the gallery.
Akio Nagisawa’s Ginza gallery is a must-visit for anyone in Tokyo- the gallery’s photobook shop is a gem of photography publications.
