Tokyo Gallery + BTAP (Beijing) is holding an exhibition by photographer Hiroyuki Suzuki entitled “Tokyo Construction + JK Memorial Photographs” starting Tuesday, April 27, 2010. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the first large-scale fashion show held in Beijing by Suzuki’s partner, the fashion designer Junko Koshino. On display at this exhibition are photos of expressway construction sites in Tokyo, as well as photos documenting Koshino’s Beijing fashion show.
Hiroyuki Suzuki was born in Shizuoka prefecture. He has planned and produced fashion shows by Junko Koshino at Paris Fashion Week and in various cities and countries around the world, including Beijing (1985), New York (1990), Vietnam (1994) and Cuba (1996). Suzuki is active in a wide variety of other fields, and has also written a number of short stories. He has been pursuing photography seriously since 2006, exhibiting his photos of construction sites around the world that aim to capture unique, singular moments.
The construction of the Tokyo expressways captured in these photos began in 1991. They thread through the gaps that lie between the city’s high-rise buildings and network of subway lines, while the construction sites that are responsible for building them are made up of six layers, including an underground portion - symbols of the dense, overcrowded conditions in the Japanese capital. The buildings that emerged from these sites, according to Suzuki, “took his breath away”. By training his lens on the exuberant energy inherent to the construction process, Suzuki captures the beauty of incompletion that stands in stark contrast to the functional beauty of finished structures. “Tokyo Construction” depicts a sense of materiality and dynamism unique to these construction sites. The concrete masses that float in midair and block out the sun are imposing presences with something almost violent about them.
In addition to these works, this exhibition also showcases documentary photographs of Junko Koshino’s 1985 fashion show in Beijing, as well as a selection of Suzuki’s fashion photography. Since her debut show in Beijing, Koshino has staged numerous other exhibitions and events in the Chinese capital. The documentary photos on display depict her historical encounters with famous people, and speak eloquently of the impact that she made on people at the time. In addition to giving audiences a glimpse of the foundations of both Koshino’s creative activities and Suzuki’s career as a photographer, the photos of fashion shows held in Cuba in 1996 and 2009 also constitute a rare and valuable body of work.
We hope you take this opportunity to view the exhibition and look forward to your visit.
