Feb 27

Feb 27 IN CONVERSATION WITH RISAKU SUZUKI

Art, Creative People, Culture, Nature, Photography

“My belief is that contemporary photography should be based on conceptual ideas and should be directed to creation. In order to pursue this direction, needless to say, enthusiasm and strong will are required. If someone should think that an artistic expression is valid in taking pictures of one’s life such as girlfriends and families, it would be too idle an attitude. To bring out 'the power of photography' in any era or situation, a strong passion (based on the photographer’s mindset to structure concept) is essential."

– Risaku Suzuki

Risaku Suzuki, born in 1963 in Shingu City, Wakayama, began using photography as medium for his creative output after graduating from Tokyo College of Photography in 1987. Today he is one of Japan's most renowned photographers. Suzuki has exhibited worldwide and received numerous awards, including the Kimura Ihei Award, the most prestigious award in the field of photography in Japan. His works are collected by museums such as the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, the Princeton University Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the San Francisco MoMA, the Fondazione Casa di Risparimo di Modena, Italy, the bank Lombard Odier Zurich, Switzerland, and the International Center of Photography, NYC.

The artist is exhibiting his fourth solo exhibition at Christophe Guye Galerie - exploring the crucial period of the year when the quiet and monotony of winter gives way to the spring.

Greatest inspirations or influences?

Claude Monet and other impressionist painters and Cézanne

Pls tell us about your creative process.

I shoot several motifs such as cherry blossoms, snow, water surface, and Kumano, a sacred place in Japan and my birthplace, on film with a large camera.

It is not my goal to obtain so-called "photo-like" images. Therefore, I look at the subject rather than through the viewfinder.

I feel as if I am entrusting the camera, so to speak, to take the photographs together with the camera.

When I select and compose the finished photographs, I think about the relationship between the photographs and the space in which they will be displayed.

How does technology impact your creativity and work?

Technology extends the body and brings new experiences. Digital technology in photography is moving closer to painting because of its ability to transform the image in any way. However, I still explore the original photographic expression by using analog film.

What does wellbeing mean to you?

I am interested in the wonder of seeing. I am delighted when I can create a work that immerses the viewer in the experience of seeing.

Anything else you would like to share.

The camera is a mechanical perception, which takes place outside the body. It is as if only the eyeballs are removed from the body and the image on the retina is seen again. This is different from what we see with the naked eye. When we see things, we cannot see them purely because they have been eroded by memories of the past. Whether we are seeing or remembering now overlaps and cannot be neatly separated. Perception by the machine of the camera has purity because it does not have a body, because it does not project an image for action. The theme of my work is how to preserve the purity that is present at the time of shooting until it is materialized in the form of a printed photograph.