Photographic Images and Matter: Japanese Prints of the 1970s

EVENT DESCRIPTION

The travel exhibition “Photographic Images and Matter: Japanese Prints of the 1970s”, co-organised by the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong and the Japan Foundation, will be held from 2 to 20 December, 2021 at the Hong Kong Central Library.

Supervised by Kyoji Takizawa, curator of the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, the exhibition focuses on print expressions from the 1970s, as seen in 50 works of 14 artists who helped develop a print movement in the world of Japanese contemporary art. While, on one hand, this period is notable as the golden age of works in which photographic images were converted into prints, the 1970s also saw the rise of a new print movement in which a strong emphasis was placed on allowing materials (matter) used in print-making, such as print blocks, paper, and ink, to speak for themselves. These subjective expressions, based on photographic images and matter, greatly expanded the print medium while also helping to shape trends in contemporary art as a whole.

This exhibition comprises two sections: “The Age of Photographic Images”, which focuses on the use of photographic images in the print medium and “Images of Autonomous Matter”, which focuses on works that were shaped by the intentions of matter. In addition to enjoying the works in these two categories, the viewer will be able to gain a deeper understanding of contemporary art trends of the 1970s which were triggered by the print medium.