Best Books 2014
Best Books 2014
Takeki Sugiyama
Best Books picks from Takeki Sugiyama Gallery TANTO TEMPO.
 |
The Yellow River*
By Zhang Kechun
Yanyou Di Yuan / Jiazazhi Limited
The yellow river is the 6th longest river in the world. The book shows landscapes of the river in high-key yellowish tone and the landscapes are continental and sized full scale. Most of the images look highly proportional, containing Chinese cultural, industrial and historical motives in each photo.
*This title is out-of-print. Email us to be notified if copies become available.
|
|
 |
Star of the Stars*
By Yoichi Nagata
Sky Earth
Yoichi Nagata is the photographer who follows the Japanese subculture in Tokyo, especially Gyaru, fetish and Lolita’s night club activities. The girls who appear in the book usually live their lives as office workers and on the weekends, they wrap their bodies in their favorite clothing and go to the night club to dance. With saturated colors on a black background, the girls show alternate personalities in these portraits.
*This title is not currently carried by photo-eye. Email us to be notified if copies become available.
|
|
 |
|
By Maija Tammi
Kehrer Verlag
This photobook is a combined book of two series Leftover and Removals. It is medium-large format, heavy in weight and covered with thick cardboard and is bound with magnetic clasp in between. The author got the idea from medical issues. Leftover pictures brace masks for radiation therapy and Removals shows removed tissue from surgical operations. Images show a strict reality of suffering as part of being human and we realize that we cannot escape from being sick any more than we can humanity. Braces hide the face and removed tissue comes out from personality. Death stands just behind us.
|
|
 |
|
By Atsushi Fujiwara
Sokya-sha
This is the story of nobody, since she is metaphorically called butterfly in the story. The author met her at a bar in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The reason why he followed her was not described in the book, but he was so interested in her characteristics that he visited Okinawa, her homeland, to build a complete photographic story. She is a mother of a girl, she is a daughter of a mother and she is a master of a SM bondage club show. The series of black and white images reveal her uneasy life. She is a heroine here, but she is not and never will be the butterfly of the dream.
|
|
 |
|
By Yusuke Yamatani
Yuka Tsuruno Gallery
Deep dark night of underground Osaka. Suppressed young people who live in the wonderland of night. They are truly innocents, drawing adolescent stories with music and subcultural activities. Pathetic but carefree, silent but violent. Insufficient but stylish. This is the story of a wonderland that most adults could never take part in.
|
|
 |
|
By Miki Hasegawa
Self-Published
A hand made photobook. Cloth bound and stitched on the back.
The contents are just like a family album. Pages are filled with personal and family histories. And there are 10 pockets where we can draw tags to access the special contents; memos, personal letters and essays. The photos show three generations of family stories directly printed on the pages. Looking at the photos, we are aware of how we establish family ties and circulate stories for future generations to inherit. The book is a kind of jewel box.
|
|
 |
|
By Yoshihiro Hagiwara
Tosei-sha
SNOWY, the first series had a strong story about an abandoned coalmine and snow during the winter in Japan. SNOWY II is Hagiwara’s second series published in 2014. The series shows a contrast of snow and structures, the everlasting “snow” and destruction of human products. The book shows not only the aesthetic story of the scenic place but also the social meanings.
|
|
Takeki Sugiyama is a collector of photography, gallery director of Gallery TANTO TEMPO, Kobe JAPAN. A photography collector since 2006, Takeki Sugiyama is dedicated to creating a photographic community with a strong emphasis on education and industry that can contribute to and strengthen Japanese culture. He attends many photography festivals all around the world. Founder of Mt. Rokko Photography Festival, started in 2013.
