Piles of Time: Risaku Suzuki Photographs
Publisher: Kyoto and Tokyo: Korinsha Press & Co., Ltd., 1999
Edition: 1st Edition
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 477130355X
Condition: Fine / Near Fine
Item #: 111840
$375.00
Specifics
First edition, first printing. Hardcover. White paper-covered boards with title printed in yellow on cover and spine, with photographically illustrated dust jacket and 2-1/2 inch photographically illustrated obi. Photographs by Risaku Suzuki. Text (in Japanese and English) by Takako Matsuda. Includes a brief biography and an exhibition history (in Japanese and English). Designed by Akira Tsuchikiri. Unpaginated (148 pp.), with 111 four-color plates. Printed in Japan by Korinsha Printing Co., Ltd. 9-1/8 x 11-1/4 inches.
Condition
Fine in Near Fine dust jacket (light shelf wear and toning to the extremities, else Fine) and Near Fine obi (moderate creasing and soiling, but intact).
Description
The first section of this monograph is entitled "Osorezan," in reference to the sacred mountain where spirits of the dead roam. In the book's second section, as Matsuda asserts, "we find images of light, called 'izanami'. Invoking the name of Izanami-no-Mikoto, the deity-creator of Japan, these photographs have a sense of quick movement. If we look at these images as a simple record of a journey, we lose track of the destination." Suzuki was awarded the Ihee Kimura award in 2000 for Piles of Time, which also features other sacred sites, such as Kumano in Wakayama Prefecture and Osorezan in Aomori Prefecture. From a review by Midori Matsui (Artforum, November 2005): "Coupled with the overall precision, blurs and accidental details lend the pictures a touch of unreality, signaling an eruption of another dimension of experience. The premonition of something unnatural coming, intensifying as the photographer approaches the site, ultimately signifies the incommensurable."
