Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Asian Photography Blog


I've talked a few times about some of the new and interesting photography that is coming out of Asia and especially China. More recently I've been following the Asian Photography Blog which has regular updates of a lot of work that generally hasn't been seen that much in the Western mainstream.

My feeling is that much of the new energy and creativity in photography is coming from and is going to come from these regions. Bascially, we ain't seen nothin' yet.

Here are a few samples - go browse through the site archive for more:

(first two pictures) "Hong Kong born Dinu emigrated to the UK when he was just a child. Think in Pictures has got the lowdown on Dinu Li’s current exhibition for his The Mother of All Journeys series. The series traces memories of his mother’s move from China to Hong Kong and finally to England.":



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"Bae Bien-U’s large-format photos of pines, mountains, land and seascapes are breathtaking to behold (even on my monitor).":





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"Feng Yan’s minimalistic images are simply arresting and starkingly beautiful to behold. Images of seemingly ordinary places and corners are imbued with a sense of oppression and tension. The pictures seem to contain more than they show and the viewer is left to wonder why; until he/she realizes that these places are more than what they seem to be.":




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"Sato Shintaro’s large format pictures of Japan’s cityscapes at night are pretty interesting. His entire series was shot from emergency exit stairs, of which he says:

I am fascinated by the power of unconsciousness of townscape when looking down from a little higher point. The town is constructed by the necessity, not for the purpose of beauty, but I find it changes beautiful shape and rhythm of which we are not aware when I am on the ground. Colors in twilight, that are mixture of the artificial light and the natural one, emphasize the beauty of town.":




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"This week I seem to have taken on an interest in the replication and distortion of reality in contemporary photography. Xing Danwen’s ongoing series, Urban Fiction, depicts characters against architectural models.

On first sight, I thought it was one of those overdone tilt-shift lens tricks until I chanced upon her website, where she actually included the details for each image.":


1 comment:

Summer_Finn said...

I am drawn to the series "Urban Fiction" by Xing Danwen. I think they are composed in an interesting way. They allow us to look in on our own world and society in a whole new way. It is interesting in his statement how he discusses that when we were young we looked up at the tall buildings and structures, and now we can look down on "models" of our future. I also didn't realize that each person in the photographs are actually the same person, the artist. I like how he portrays all those different "roles" within in the piece. These are very neat to look at. Thank you for sharing.