Recollections: From New York to Tokyo

Masayo Nishimura
Recollections: From New York to Tokyo
Photography













February 1 - 26, 2011

Reception: Thursday, 10 February, 6 - 8pm


Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday 12 - 6pm,
Thursday 12-8pm


Ceres Gallery
547 West 27th St Suite 201
New York, NY 10001
212 947 6100
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Recollections: From New York to Tokyo
Masayo Nishimura













Nishimura began studying photography in 1993. From the beginning she was attracted to the light and shadows created by subway architecture. Down in the station, Nishimura often felt as if she were inside of a huge fish tank, with blurry passengers and cars floating by in the depths. Illuminated by artificial light, everything looked quiet, fictitious and detached from ordinary reality. The subway lighting often created dreamlike shadows and other times, ghostly effects. The surreal images created by this everyday environment intrigued her.

“Tokyo Subway series”

In the summer of 2007, after Nishimura finished a series of color photographs of subway architecture using a medium format camera, she returned to her 35 mm SRL film camera and began shooting at nearby subway stations again. Then two years later Nishimura had the opportunity of going back to her native land and shooting Tokyo subway stations. Her shooting approach in both cities was almost the same, casual and spontaneous, as most of her shots were taken from behind passengers, using a 28mm wide-angle lens with fixed aperture and with no flash or tripod.

Unlike pre-war designed, rat-infested New York subway stations, subway architecture in Tokyo is relatively new, clean and well maintained and filled with generally well-mannered passengers. Although the atmosphere of these two cities is so different, Nishimura found an undeniable similarity in the images she took when she developed the exposed negatives. Just like her images taken in NYC subways, illuminated by artificial lighting, Tokyo subway passengers in the photos look meditative, quiet and somehow detached from reality in these supposedly noisy public places. That surreal impression that Nishimura discovered in NYC subways also definitely existed even in the modernized Tokyo subways.

In addition Nishimura found that Tokyo passengers such as groups of men in dark business suits and especially schoolgirls wearing monotone school uniforms appear quite fascinating. Those uniformed creatures, both the men and the girls that she shot from every angle, blend so well into the Tokyo subway architecture, they seem a natural fixture of the subterranean environment.

“Scenes from Japan”

During her stay in Japan, Nishimura went to Tokyo and Senri New Town (a suburban city in Osaka prefecture where she grew up), and shot not only subway stations, but also various other locales. The scenes shown here are some of the photos Nishimura took at Roppongi Hills - a New Urban Centre located in Roppongi, Tokyo, as well as at Senri Selcy - a suburban shopping mall located in Senri New Town, Osaka. Although Nishimura took all those pictures quite spontaneously, they came out as rather interesting "frozen" moments of time showing crowds along with urban high-tech architecture. Each person in the photographs seems to convey his or her own personal life story even though they appear frozen in their action.

Nishimura is, of course, hoping to continue her photographic art-making after this project. However, since Kodak recently discontinued their production of color printing paper for manual printing, she has been having a difficult time keeping on with her printmaking in the color dark room. This exhibition may be her last photography show in which all the prints are hand-printed from film negatives. Although she doesn’t know which direction her photography will take in the future, she just hopes to be able to discover magical moments in the everyday environment, in such places as subway stations which have the unique ability to transform themselves into something totally unexpected and fascinating.

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Tokyo June 2010

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Tokyo, June 2010

R.I.P. Eric Rohmer

French New Wave director Eric Rohmer: R.I.P
January 11, 2010 | 11:43 am

Director Eric Rohmer, one of the founders of the French New Wave film movement, has died, his production company confirmed Monday.

Rohmer Born Maurice Henri Joseph Scherer in 1920, Rohmer fashioned his screen name after actor-director Erich von Stroheim (“Sunset Boulevard”) and the English novelist Sax Rohmer. From 1957 to 1963, he was the editor of the influential periodical Cahiers du Cinema and ultimately joined his onetime Cahiers colleagues Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut as a director.

Rohmer didn’t have the flash and sizzle of the more famous Godard and Truffaut, but he was very much their equal, creating deceptively simple fables about the human condition, with haunting performances and a particular obsession for the messy vagaries of love and betrayal. He made his directorial debut in 1959 with "Le Signe du Lion," but it was his third film, 1969’s “My Night at Maud’s,” that catapulted him to international attention and earned two Oscar nominations.

Rohmer directed more than 50 films, including such notable works as “Claire’s Knee,” the Cannes Jury Prize grand winner “The Marquise of O” and “Pauline at the Beach,” the last of which memorably portrayed a teenager ensnared in the romantic games of her aunt. His last film was 2007’s “The Romance of Astree and Celadon.” Rohmer was 89.

-- Rachel Abramowitz
Photo: Eric Rohmer. Credit: Robin Holland.

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Director:

1. Les amours d'Astrée et de Céladon (2007)
... aka Gli amori di Astrea e Celadon (Italy)
... aka Romance of Astrea and Celadon (Canada: English title)
... aka Romance of Astree and Celadon (USA: festival title)
2. Le canapé rouge (2005)
3. Triple agent (2004)
... aka Triple Agent (International: English title) (USA: festival title)
... aka Agente speciale (Italy)
... aka Triple agente (Spain)
4. L'anglaise et le duc (2001)
... aka The Lady and the Duke (Australia) (USA)
... aka L'anglaise & le duc (France: poster title)

5. Conte d'automne (1998)
... aka Autumn Tale (Canada: English title) (USA)
6. Conte d'été (1996)
... aka A Summer's Tale
7. Les rendez-vous de Paris (1995)
... aka Rendezvous in Paris
8. L'arbre, le maire et la médiathèque (1993)
... aka L'arbre, le maire et la médiathèque ou les sept hasards (France: complete title)
... aka Les sept hasards
... aka The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque
9. Conte d'hiver (1992)
... aka A Tale of Winter (USA)
... aka A Winter's Tale
10. Conte de printemps (1990)
... aka A Tale of Springtime (USA)
... aka Contes des quatre saisons: Conte de printemps
... aka Tales of Four Seasons (USA)

11. Les jeux de société (1989) (TV)
12. L'ami de mon amie (1987)
... aka My Girlfriend's Boyfriend (UK) (USA: festival title)
... aka Boyfriends and Girlfriends (USA)
... aka Comédies et proverbes (France)
13. 4 aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle (1987)
... aka Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (USA)
14. Le rayon vert (1986)
... aka Comédies et Proverbes: Le rayon vert (France: complete title)
... aka Summer (USA)
... aka The Green Ray (UK)
15. Bois ton café (1986) (V)
16. Les nuits de la pleine lune (1984)
... aka Comédies et proverbes (France: series title)
... aka Full Moon in Paris (International: English title)
17. Pauline à la plage (1983)
... aka Pauline at the Beach
18. Le beau mariage (1982) (as Éric Rohmer)
... aka A Good Marriage (UK)
... aka Comédies et proverbes: Le beau mariage (France: long title)
... aka Le beau mariage (USA)
19. La femme de l'aviateur (1981)
... aka La femme de l'aviateur ou 'on ne saurait penser à rien'
... aka The Aviator's Wife (USA)
20. Catherine de Heilbronn (1980) (TV)

21. Perceval le Gallois (1978)
... aka Il fuorilegge (Italy)
... aka Perceval (Italy)
22. Die Marquise von O... (1976)
... aka La marquise d'O... (France)
... aka The Marquise of O
23. L'amour l'après-midi (1972)
... aka Chloe in the Afternoon (USA)
... aka Love in the Afternoon
24. Le genou de Claire (1970)
... aka Claire's Knee (USA)

25. Ma nuit chez Maud (1969)
... aka My Night at Maud's (USA)
... aka My Night with Maud
... aka Six Moral Tales III: My Night at Maud's (International: English title: series title)
... aka Six contes moraux III: Ma nuit chez Maud (France: series title)
26. La béton dans la ville (1969) (TV)
27. Victor Hugo architecte (1969) (TV)
28. Louis Lumière (1968) (TV)
29. Mallarmé (1968) (TV)
30. La collectionneuse (1967)
... aka Six contes moraux IV: La Collectionneuse
... aka The Collector
31. Fermière à Montfaucon (1967) (TV)
32. Victor Hugo: Les contemplations (Livre V-V) (1966) (TV)
33. Une étudiante d'aujourd'hui (1966)
... aka A Modern Coed (USA: literal English title)
34. Paris vu par... (1965) (segment "Place de l'Étoile")
... aka Six in Paris
35. Entretien sur Pascal (1965) (TV)
... aka On Pascal (USA: informal English title)
36. "Cinéastes de notre temps" (2 episodes, 1965)
- Carl Th. Dreyer (1965) TV episode
- Le celluloid et la marbre (1965) TV episode
37. Les caractères de La Bruyère (1965) (TV)
38. Don Quichotte (1965) (TV)
39. Les histoires extraordinaires d'Edgar Poe (1965) (TV)
40. Perceval ou Le conte du Graal (1965) (TV)
41. L'ère industrielle: Métamorphoses du paysage (1964) (TV)
... aka Changing Landscapes (UK)
... aka Ver l'unite du monde (France: series title)
42. Nadja à Paris (1964)
... aka Nadja in Paris (USA: literal English title)
43. Les cabinets de physique au XVIIIème siècle (1964) (TV)
... aka Les cabinets de physique (la vie de société au XVIIIe siècle) (France)
44. La carrière de Suzanne (1963)
... aka Suzanne's Career
45. La boulangère de Monceau (1963)
... aka The Baker of Monceau
... aka The Baker's Girl of Monceau
... aka The Bakery Girl of Monceau (USA)
... aka The Girl at the Monceau Bakery
46. Présentation ou Charlotte et son steak (1960)
... aka Presentation, or Charlotte and Her Steak (USA: literal English title)

47. Le signe du lion (1959)
... aka The Sign of Leo
48. Véronique et son cancre (1958)
... aka Véronique and Her Dunce (USA: literal English title)
49. La sonate à Kreutzer (1956)
50. Bérénice (1954)
... aka Berenice (USA: informal English title)
51. Journal d'un scélérat (1950)