Each Modern 亞紀畫廊很榮幸展出「森山大道：Pop Noir」，帶來日本攝影代表藝術家森山大道的絹印作品，囊括了藝術家數十年來借鑑普普藝術與表現主義元素的攝影實踐，展出了藝術家獨樹一格的黑白攝影絹印作品，包含了知名、罕見、與上色畫面。其中，部分作品原將在法國阿爾勒攝影節展出，但隨著攝影節因疫情取消而很榮幸地邀請來台展出。同時，森山大道現正於東京都攝影美術館展出大型回顧展「Tokyo Ongoing」，本展亦展出了部分相同作品。
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身為末代的戰後攝影大師之一，森山大道質疑並重新定義了攝影。他的早期作品挖掘了日本在工業化都市中的氾濫擴張、衰敗、與神秘。而作為「Provoke」刊物的重要成員，森山大道也定義了與當時攝影傳統背道而行的「顆粒、模糊、失焦」美學。粗糙、對比高，他就像獵人一樣在世界中遊走，反應式地捕捉著現實生活與圖像的瞬間。
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亞紀畫廊曾在2018年展出「Radiation」，將森山大道的經典畫面以燈箱的形式再現；而2020年的「Pop Noir」則透過畫布上的絹印與顏料，重新審視了其他影像的普普藝術蹤跡。
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無論是在題材還是媒材上，森山大道的攝影總是處在現實與幻象之間。普普的元素不僅可以在「scandalous」中發掘，也呼應著絹印的製作方法。受普普藝術影響深遠的森山大道，也同時專注在消費文化上：例如在「Provoke」的第三期刊中，森山大道的作品複印了超市層架、安迪・沃荷的標誌性絹印作品，並讓它們看似照片。
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「Pop Noir」的作品同時也呼應了40至50年代的表現主義黑色犯罪電影。看似危險的城市黑影空間、擦上紅唇膏的蛇蠍美人，這些意象都與森山大道所捕捉的初期現代日本都市相似，並在視覺上投射了這樣的經典風格。在作品《無題，Lips 9 Times》（2019）中，如此的都市危險感與普普藝術的玩趣便十分明顯。這件大型作品印著強烈的紅色唇印與黑色嘴唇，曖昧微開的表情如同一個閃耀的警告標誌；《Tights （Black and Gold）》（2020）則展現了另一種普普的玩味，用幾近媚俗的金色取代了標準的黑白形象。
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來自《SCANDALOUS》（2016）的作品拍攝了60年代的都市變化、車禍畫面、與用詩意角度拍攝的戰後日本。破碎與疏遠的面孔融合在了普普藝術的拼貼中，就像夢境的碎片一樣。在另一件作品中，戴著深色墨鏡的女人與嘴上叼菸的男人坐在一輛汽中之中，彷彿一對逃跑的罪犯鴛鴦。這些極富顆粒感的作品有些是翻拍了既有照片，也驗證了森山大道在當時突破的攝影定義界線；《挑釁 2》（1968／2019）是另一件藝術家在「Provoke」系列中知名的作品，拍攝了在幽暗的旅店中的抽菸女子。在這間作品中，我們能極致的體會森山大道所帶來的noir（黑）情趣，即使在原作中也是如此。
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抽象且看似漩渦的自拍照《Farewell Photography》（1972／2020）則來自森山大道最獲好評的攝影書。在這件作品中，藝術家出現在了他的創作元素之中，在鏈輪與負片之中，在幾乎被化學藥劑的消除的照片之中，被攝體、媒材、以及藝術家構成了一個新的真實視野—「Pop Noir」，森山大道帶領我們走入的另一條光影巷弄。
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Moriyama Daido：Pop Noir ⠀⠀⠀
September 11 – October 10, 2020
Opening Reception: September 11, 2020 | 6 - 8 PM
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Each Modern is pleased to present “Moriyama Daido: Pop Noir” an exhibition of silkscreen on canvas works by seminal figure of Japanese photography Moriyama Daido which invoke the Pop Art and expressionistic elements of the artist’s decades long practice. The exhibition features both well-known and uncommon images in the distinct format of the silkscreen on canvas print in his well-known stark black and white images as well as works accented by color.
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One of the last living post-war masters of photography, Moriyama’s practice seeks to question and redefine the premise of the photographed image. In his early praxis, Moriyama explored the unrelenting urban expansion, decay, and mystery, of the industrialized Japanese city. A key member of Provoke magazine, Moriyama’s practice defined the “are-bure-boke” (grainy, blurry, out of focus) aesthetic in opposition to the editorialized and word-reliant conventions of that time. His grainy and high-contrast images stem from his itinerant methodology, wandering the world like a hunter, capturing moments, from real life or in images themselves, that produce a reaction.
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In 2018 Each Modern presented “Radiation” a unique solo presentation of Moriyama’s works which turned his influential images of light and shadow into glowing lightboxes. Now, “Pop Noir” reexamines the images and Pop Art traces of a different group of eclectic images through the tactile materials of silkscreen and paint printed on canvas.
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In both subject and medium, Moriyama’s images exist in a space between reality and illusion. The pop elements of Moriyama’s works are not only referenced in his “scandalous” images, but also in the medium of the silkscreen itself. Moriyama was heavily influenced by Pop Art, in particular the focus of consumer culture, as seen in his “Provoke 3” works of photocopied supermarket shelves, as well as the iconic silkscreens of Andy Warhol and their photo-like qualities.
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The selection of works in “Pop Noir” also reference the expressionistic style of Film Noir crime dramas of the 1940s and 50s. The hostile urban shadow-spaces and red-lipsticked femme fatales of Moriyama’s works capture both an imagination of the newly emerging social space of modern Japan, while also projecting the visual tropes of this classic style. This connection to the urban danger and playful pop can be most clearly seen in “Untitled, Lips 9 Times,” 2019, a large-scale print in red bad black featuring mouths ambiguously mid-expression or curled in a pout, like a flashing warning sign. Moriyama’s “Tights (Black and Gold),” 2020, strays towards another playful aspect of pop in its use of near-kitsch gold rather than standard black and white.
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A selection of the prints come from SCANDALOUS, 2016, a series of works taken in the late 1960s that feature the transforming urbanism, car accident laden images, and poetic chaos of post-war Japan. Scattered and alienated faces are melded in pop art collage of signage and dreamlike fragmentation. In another, a woman in dark sunglasses and a man with a cigarette hanging from his mouth cautiously scan the scene from inside a car, like a pair of criminals on the run. These grainy prints, some of which are photographs of photographs, push the boundaries of what defined photography at that time. With “Provoke 2,” 1968/2019, one of the artists most iconic works of his Provoke contributions of a smoking woman inside a dark hotel room, our attention is directed to the lustful attraction of Noir resonating in Moriyama’s works, even from its vantage point free of sign.
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In the abstract and swirling self-portrait “Farewell Photography,” 1972 / 2020, which comes from one of Moriyama’s most highly praised photography books, we find the artist situated in his element, between the sprockets of film negative, nearly washed-out in the chemical traces of photography itself. Here we see the subject, the medium, and the author for what they are without illusion. In “Pop Noir”, Moriyama takes us down yet another alley of shadow and light.