Now and Then, Japanese Photography and Art
Dec 5, 2015 – Jan 23, 2016
“We are surrounded by water and land, and much of the history of landscape photography has used these two familiar ideas as a starting point. Yet I have never seen these two components put together in such a compelling way. I look now, and it is all so obvious.
In the frame of Asako’s images come all manner of familiar objects. There are boats, sometimes looking like swans. There are fish jumping out of the water, there are aeroplanes passing that sometimes look smaller than fish. On the land we see everything from skyscrapers to traditional Japanese temples. Most of all we see the water. In every image it appears quite different. It can appear solid, almost like stone. It can be a collection of highlights, and it can be brown and depressing. It can be bright and blue, and uplifting. Sometimes we can through it, sometimes it is dark and murky. It is difficult to believe it is all the same simple liquid. How can the same thing look so different?”
Martin Parr in: Asako Narahashi: “half awake and half asleep in the water”, Nazraeli Press 2007.
“The title of the series […] is very cleverly expressed. Her works, while betraying the stereotyped images of resort areas, somehow make visible as a shared recognition the image of the sea that people embrace: Therein, an uncomfortable feeling like seasickness and a pleasurable feeling of floating and entrusting, yourself to the sea lodge side by side […] They call forth an ambivalent feeling.”
Michiko Kasahara in: “Kiss in the Dark”, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo 2001
Die Serie “half awake and half asleep in the water” der 1959 in Tokyo geborenen Künstlerin ist seit dem Jahr 2000 an den Küsten Japans entstanden und zeigt in ungewöhnlichen Landschaftsfotografien einen neuen Blick auf Japan. Halb im Wasser stehend oder schwimmend hat sie wichtige Wahrzeichen, wie den Berg Fuji und Tempel sowie die moderne Zivilisation (Hochhäuser, Flugzeuge etc.) immer in Verbindung mit Wasser fotografiert.
Der Titel der Serie „half awake and half asleep in the water“ verweist auf einen ambivalenten Zustand den die Bilder vermitteln, einen Zustand zwischen dem angenehmen Gefühl im Wasser zu Schweben und zugleich Gefahr zu laufen das Ufer nicht mehr zu erreichen zu können und unterzugehen.
“Die Bilder überzeugen nicht nur aufgrund der ungewöhnlichen Blickrichtung, sondern zudem durch eine besondere Ambivalenz und Poesie. Faszination und Furcht, Durchlässigkeit und Härte – das uns stets umgebende Wasser bleibt in Narahashis Fotografie etwas Geheimnisvolles, letztlich Unergründbares. Das in der Ferne sichtbare Land signalisiert dagegen vertraute Sicherheit.” (Anna Gripp, in Photonews, 2/08)
Arbeiten aus der Serien wurden unter anderem in folgenden Ausstellungen gezeigt: „Mizu no Oto“, Fotografia Festival Internazionale di Roma; „Heavy Light. Recent Photography and Video from Japan“, ICP, New York; „Japan Caught by Camera: Works from the Photographic Art in Japan“, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai; „Japan Contemporary Ceramics and Photography“, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; „Black Out, Contemprary Japanese Photography“, Tokyo, Paris, Rome
Einzelausstellungen (Auswahl)
2017 Asako Narahashi, “A Retrospective – Asako Narahashi”, Ibasho, Antwerp
2016 Asako Narahashi, “Coming Closer and Getting Further Away: 1985/2015 Vietnam”, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
2015 Asako Narahashi, “Biwako”, Gallery Main, Kyoto
2013 Asako Narahashi, “Horikawa Horizon”, C-Square, Chukyo University Art Gallery, Nagoya
2012 Asako Narahashi, “seen when too far away: Amsterdam, Kurohime”, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
2012 Asako Narahashi, “In the Plural”, Zeit Foto Salon, Tokyo
2011 Asako Narahashi, “Coming Closer and Getting Further Away”, Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen, Amsterdam
2010 Asako Narahashi, “Asako Narahashi”, Ilan Engel Gallery, Paris
2009 Asako Narahashi, “Getting Closer and Getting Further Away”, Rose Gallery, Santa Monica
2009 Asako Narahashi, “Getting Closer and Getting Further Away”, Tokyo Art Museum, Tokyo
2009 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water” GunGallery, Stockholm
2009 Asako Narahashi, “funiculi funicula,”Port Gallery T, Osaka
2008 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water”, Galerie Priska Pasquer, Koeln
2008 Asako Narahashi, “another side”, Kurenbo, Tokyo
2007 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water”, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York
2006 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water 06/07”, Zeit-Foto Salon, Tokyo
2005 Asako Narahashi, “after funifuni”, Gallery Tohsei, Tokyo
2004 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water 04/05″, Zeit-Foto Salon, Tokyo
2004 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water”, Lee ka-sing Gallery, Tronto
2004 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water”, BankART1929, the Hall of Basyamichi, Yokohama
2003 Asako Narahashi, “funiculi funicula”, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
2002 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water 2003”, il tempo, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
2002 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water”, il tempo, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
2002 Asako Narahashi, “KABUKINOKUNI 02”, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
2001 Asako Narahashi, “NU-E” MISTERIJAS DOKUMENTALITATE , Latvijas Fotografijas Muzejs, Riga
2001 Asako Narahashi, “RECENT WORKS” , 03FOTOS, Tokyo
2000 Asako Narahashi, “KABUKINOKUNI”, Studio Ebis Photo Gallery, Tokyo
1999 Asako Narahashi, “NU-E-selected in Tokyo”, il tempo, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
1998 Asako Narahashi, “Island City Town KABU-KU”, BERG, 03FOTOS, Tokyo
1998 Asako Narahashi, “NU-E”, The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka
1997 Asako Narahashi, “NU-E” series, 03FOTOS, Tokyo
1997 Asako Narahashi, “piece”, Oregon-Moon Gallery, Tokyo
1990 Asako Narahashi, “Mata Yuku Hito”, 03FOTOS, Tokyo
Gruppenausstellungen (Auswahl)
2016 “Japanese Photography from Postwar to Now“, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
2015 “Now and Then, Japanese Photography and Art“, Galerie Priska Pasquer, Cologne
2015 “Mons 2015: Regards de femmes“, Maison Folie – Espace des Possibles, Mons
2014 “Songs from the Heart“, BredaPhoto, Breda
2013 “A Sense of Place“, Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco
2013 “Edo Pop: The Graphic Impact of Japanese Prints“, Japan Society Gallery, New York
2013 “Two Years Later. Nature & Art, A Requiem“, Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Japan
2012 “Sweet & Salt: Water and the Duch“, Kunsthal Rotterdam2011 „Mizu no Oto“ (sound of water), Fotografia. Festival Internazionale di Roma
2010 “Troubles de l’objectif”, Hospice d’ Havré, Tourcoing, France
“Summit of the Six”, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai
2009 “Japan Meets China: Our Future Reflected in Contemporary Art”, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya
2008 “Water in Photography”, Huis Marseille Stichting voor Fotografie, Amsterdam
2008 „Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan“, ICP (International Center for Photography), New York
2008 “7 views foward the world”, Touch Art Gallery + Keumsan Gallery, Korea
2007 “Japan Caught by Camera: Works from the Photographic Art in Japan”, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2007 “Art of Water”, The Museum of Modern Art Ibaraki, Ibaraki
2007 “Fascination”, Nihonbashi Takashimaya Gallery X, Tokyo
2006 “rapt! 20 contemporary artists from Japan”, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
2006 “Double 6 – six occuring dialogues”, LEE Ka-sing gallery, Toronto
2005 “GAW part 4”, Shinjuku Golden-gai; plastic model, Tokyo
2005 “arteLanzarote 2005； 3 Encuentro Bienal 2005”, MICA Lanzarote, Islas Canarias
2005 “85/05 ; The photography beyond 20 years from Tsukuba Museum of Photography 1985”, Sendai Mediatheque, Miyagi
2004 “YOKOHAMA SYASHINE” , The BankART 1929, Yokohama
2004 “A prize exhibition of shashin-no-kai [society of photograph] “, PLACE M, Tokyo
2004 “A rose of eternity – An exhibition of homage to give to Hideo Nakai -“, Gallery Okyurusu, Tokyo
2003 “IMAGINE Narahashi Asako and Kaihatsu Yoshiaki”, Parthenon Tama (Tama City Cultural Foundation), Tokyo
2003 “JAPAN Contemporary Ceramics and Photography”, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
2003 “TAMA VIVANT 2003”, Tokyo/Kyoto
2003 “BLACK OUT Contemporary Japanese Photography”, Tokyo
2003 “BLACK OUT Contemporary Japanese Photography”, Paris
2002 “BLACK OUT Contemporary Japanese Photography”, Roma
2002 “Photonesia Ryukyuretsuzo”, Okinawa
2002 “KISS IN THE DARK”, Marugame Genichiro Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa
2001 “KISS IN THE DARK”, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo
2001 “GAW part 3”, Aomori
2000 “GAW part 2”, Yamaguchi
1999 “TONPU- 8 photographers in Japan”, 051 Gallery, Pusan
1996-99 “main 1～5”, 03FOTOS, Tokyo
1998 “Photography Today”; The Absence of Distance”, National Film Centre, The National Museum of Modern Art , Tokyo
1998 “Women photographer’s eyes 1945-1997“, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo
1996-95 “Another Reality; Aspects of Contemporary Photography”, Kawasaki City Museum, Kanagawa
1992 “Umaretuki no Hiru to Yoru”, part of ASG Garanya Final Exhibitions, Nagoya
Veröffentlichungen
“Gips”, Osiris, Tokyo, 2018
“Coming Closer and Getting Further Away: 1985/2015 Vietnam”, 03Fotos, Tokyo, 2016
“Biwako”, Gallery Main, Kyoto + 03Fotos, Tokyo, 2015
“Ever After”, Osiris, Tokyo, 2013
“seen when too far away”, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo, 2012 (essay)
“Coming Closer and Getting Further Away”, Tokyo, 2009
“half awake and half asleep in the water”, Nazraeli Press, 2007
“FUNICULI FUNICULA”, Tokyo, 2004
“main”( independent photo magazine), 1996-2000
“NU-E”, Tokyo, 1997
“half awake half asleep in the water”
“We are surrounded by water and land, and much of the history of landscape photography has used these two familiar ideas as a starting point. Yet I have never seen these two components put together in such a compelling way. I look now, and it is all so obvious.
In the frame of Asako’s images come all manner of familiar objects. There are boats, sometimes looking like swans. There are fish jumping out of the water, there are aeroplanes passing that sometimes look smaller than fish. On the land we see everything from skyscrapers to traditional Japanese temples. Most of all we see the water. In every image it appears quite different. It can appear solid, almost like stone. It can be a collection of highlights, and it can be brown and depressing. It can be bright and blue, and uplifting. Sometimes we can through it, sometimes it is dark and murky. It is difficult to believe it is all the same simple liquid. How can the same thing look so different?”
Martin Parr in: Asako Narahashi: “half awake and half asleep in the water”, Nazraeli Press 2007.
“The title of the series […] is very cleverly expressed. Her works, while betraying the stereotyped images of resort areas, somehow make visible as a shared recognition the image of the sea that people embrace: Therein, an uncomfortable feeling like seasickness and a pleasurable feeling of floating and entrusting, yourself to the sea lodge side by side […] They call forth an ambivalent feeling.”
Michiko Kasahara in: “Kiss in the Dark”, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo 2001
The series „half awake and half asleep in the water“ of this Tokyo-born artist (1959) was made since the year 2000 on the coasts of Japan, and shows in unusual landscape photographs a new view of this country. Standing half in water, or swimming, Asako Narahashi photographed modern civilization as well as the characteristic symbols of Japan, such as Fuji Mountain, in connection with water. The exhibition shows a selection of color photographs from the series as well as to date still unpublished black-and-white photographs.
An unexpected connection between water and land arises from the position of the photographer. With the changing sea in the foreground, each picture illustrates a new perspective of the coastal landscape.
The title of the series points to an ambivalence of feeling illustrated by the images. The photographs describe a state somewhere between the pleasant feeling of floating in the water and the simultaneous danger of succumbing to its tremendous force.
“The images are convincing not only because of the unusual point of view, but also through an unusual ambivalence and poetry. Fascination and fear, liquidity and hardness — the water which continuously surrounds us remains in Narahashi’s photography somewhat mysterious and, finally, inexplicable. On the other hand, the land visible in the distance signalizes familiar safety.” (Anna Gripp, in Photonews, 2/08)
The work of the artist became internationally known through the monograph “half awake and half asleep in the water,” published by Martin Parr. Work from the series was shown in group exhibitions here and abroad, among other venues in „Mizu no Oto“, Fotografia Festival Internazionale di Roma; „Heavy Light. Recent Photography and Video from Japan“, ICP, New York; „Japan Caught by Camera: Works from the Photographic Art in Japan“, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai; „Japan Contemporary Ceramics and Photography“, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; „Black Out, Contemprary Japanese Photography“, Tokyo, Paris, Rome
Solo Exhibitions (Selection)
2017 Asako Narahashi, “A Retrospective – Asako Narahashi”, Ibasho, Antwerp
2016 Asako Narahashi, “Coming Closer and Getting Further Away: 1985/2015 Vietnam”, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
2015 Asako Narahashi, “Biwako”, Gallery Main, Kyoto
2013 Asako Narahashi, “Horikawa Horizon”, C-Square, Chukyo University Art Gallery, Nagoya
2012 Asako Narahashi, “seen when too far away: Amsterdam, Kurohime”, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
2012 Asako Narahashi, “In the Plural”, Zeit Foto Salon, Tokyo
2011 Asako Narahashi, “Coming Closer and Getting Further Away”, Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen, Amsterdam
2010 Asako Narahashi, “Asako Narahashi”, Ilan Engel Gallery, Paris
2009 Asako Narahashi, “Getting Closer and Getting Further Away”, Rose Gallery, Santa Monica
2009 Asako Narahashi, “Getting Closer and Getting Further Away”, Tokyo Art Museum, Tokyo
2009 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water” GunGallery, Stockholm
2009 Asako Narahashi, “funiculi funicula,”Port Gallery T, Osaka
2008 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water”, Galerie Priska Pasquer, Koeln
2008 Asako Narahashi, “another side”, Kurenbo, Tokyo
2007 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water”, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York
2006 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water 06/07”, Zeit-Foto Salon, Tokyo
2005 Asako Narahashi, “after funifuni”, Gallery Tohsei, Tokyo
2004 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water 04/05″, Zeit-Foto Salon, Tokyo
2004 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water”, Lee ka-sing Gallery, Tronto
2004 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water”, BankART1929, the Hall of Basyamichi, Yokohama
2003 Asako Narahashi, “funiculi funicula”, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
2002 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water 2003”, il tempo, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
2002 Asako Narahashi, “half awake and half asleep in the water”, il tempo, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
2002 Asako Narahashi, “KABUKINOKUNI 02”, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
2001 Asako Narahashi, “NU-E” MISTERIJAS DOKUMENTALITATE , Latvijas Fotografijas Muzejs, Riga
2001 Asako Narahashi, “RECENT WORKS” , 03FOTOS, Tokyo
2000 Asako Narahashi, “KABUKINOKUNI”, Studio Ebis Photo Gallery, Tokyo
1999 Asako Narahashi, “NU-E-selected in Tokyo”, il tempo, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo
1998 Asako Narahashi, “Island City Town KABU-KU”, BERG, 03FOTOS, Tokyo
1998 Asako Narahashi, “NU-E”, The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka
1997 Asako Narahashi, “NU-E” series, 03FOTOS, Tokyo
1997 Asako Narahashi, “piece”, Oregon-Moon Gallery, Tokyo
1990 Asako Narahashi, “Mata Yuku Hito”, 03FOTOS, Tokyo
Group Exhibitions (selection)
2016 “Japanese Photography from Postwar to Now“, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
2015 “Now and Then, Japanese Photography and Art“, Galerie Priska Pasquer, Cologne
2015 “Mons 2015: Regards de femmes“, Maison Folie – Espace des Possibles, Mons
2014 “Songs from the Heart“, BredaPhoto, Breda
2013 “A Sense of Place“, Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco
2013 “Edo Pop: The Graphic Impact of Japanese Prints“, Japan Society Gallery, New York
2013 “Two Years Later. Nature & Art, A Requiem“, Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Japan
2012 “Sweet & Salt: Water and the Duch“, Kunsthal Rotterdam
2011 „Mizu no Oto“ (sound of water), Fotografia. Festival Internazionale di Roma
2010 “Troubles de l’objectif”, Hospice d’ Havré, Tourcoing, France
“Summit of the Six”, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai
2009 “Japan Meets China: Our Future Reflected in Contemporary Art”, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya
2008 “Water in Photography”, Huis Marseille Stichting voor Fotografie, Amsterdam
2008 „Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan“, ICP (International Center for Photography), New York
2008 “7 views foward the world”, Touch Art Gallery + Keumsan Gallery, Korea
2007 “Japan Caught by Camera: Works from the Photographic Art in Japan”, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2007 “Art of Water”, The Museum of Modern Art Ibaraki, Ibaraki
2007 “Fascination”, Nihonbashi Takashimaya Gallery X, Tokyo
2006 “rapt! 20 contemporary artists from Japan”, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
2006 “Double 6 – six occuring dialogues”, LEE Ka-sing gallery, Toronto
2005 “GAW part 4”, Shinjuku Golden-gai; plastic model, Tokyo
2005 “arteLanzarote 2005； 3 Encuentro Bienal 2005”, MICA Lanzarote, Islas Canarias
2005 “85/05 ; The photography beyond 20 years from Tsukuba Museum of Photography 1985”, Sendai Mediatheque, Miyagi
2004 “YOKOHAMA SYASHINE” , The BankART 1929, Yokohama
2004 “A prize exhibition of shashin-no-kai [society of photograph] “, PLACE M, Tokyo
2004 “A rose of eternity – An exhibition of homage to give to Hideo Nakai -“, Gallery Okyurusu, Tokyo
2003 “IMAGINE Narahashi Asako and Kaihatsu Yoshiaki”, Parthenon Tama (Tama City Cultural Foundation), Tokyo
2003 “JAPAN Contemporary Ceramics and Photography”, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
2003 “TAMA VIVANT 2003”, Tokyo/Kyoto
2003 “BLACK OUT Contemporary Japanese Photography”, Tokyo
2003 “BLACK OUT Contemporary Japanese Photography”, Paris
2002 “BLACK OUT Contemporary Japanese Photography”, Roma
2002 “Photonesia Ryukyuretsuzo”, Okinawa
2002 “KISS IN THE DARK”, Marugame Genichiro Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa
2001 “KISS IN THE DARK”, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo
2001 “GAW part 3”, Aomori
2000 “GAW part 2”, Yamaguchi
1999 “TONPU- 8 photographers in Japan”, 051 Gallery, Pusan
1996-99 “main 1～5”, 03FOTOS, Tokyo
1998 “Photography Today”; The Absence of Distance”, National Film Centre, The National Museum of Modern Art , Tokyo
1998 “Women photographer’s eyes 1945-1997“, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo
1996-95 “Another Reality; Aspects of Contemporary Photography”, Kawasaki City Museum, Kanagawa
1992 “Umaretuki no Hiru to Yoru”, part of ASG Garanya Final Exhibitions, Nagoya
Publications
“Gips”, Osiris, Tokyo, 2018
“Coming Closer and Getting Further Away: 1985/2015 Vietnam”, 03Fotos, Tokyo, 2016
“Biwako”, Gallery Main, Kyoto + 03Fotos, Tokyo, 2015
“Ever After”, Osiris, Tokyo, 2013
“seen when too far away”, photographers’ gallery, Tokyo, 2012 (essay)
“Coming Closer and Getting Further Away”, Tokyo, 2009
“half awake and half asleep in the water”, Nazraeli Press, 2007
“FUNICULI FUNICULA”, Tokyo, 2004
“main”( independent photo magazine), 1996-2000
“NU-E”, Tokyo, 1997
ASAKO NARAHASHI, half awake and half asleep in the water
Sep 12 – Oct 31, 2008
ART BASEL 2008
Jun 4 – Jun 8, 2008
PARIS PHOTO 2008
Nov 13 – Nov 16, 2008