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6/12/2011

I have got a photo assignment for New York Times magazine, and am going back to Tokyo on Tue. Then on Fri. I'll be headed to Iwate Prefecture, one of the worst-hit areas in the 3/11 quake and tsunami. I'll post a link when it gets published; It'll be published in a few weeks. I'll stay in Tokyo the whole summer, and come back to NY in the 1st week of September.

3/20/2011

Japan Tsunami Relief <-- Link to Miyako's gallery

We started selling prints from "SHUMAFURA" series through Miyako Yoshinaga Art Prospects gallery last week or so. These images were photographed in Iwate and Aomori Prefecture of Japan in 2008 and 2010. Many lives were lost, and towns and villages in these areas were severely damaged or disappeared. My best friend from college, who lives in Iwate Prefecture was missing for several days after the quake hit, but I found out later that he, his wife, and two of their daughters were safe. However, my friend's parents and grandmother remain missing.

We have raised a little over $3200. Thank you so much for all your support. 100% of proceeds go to Japan Earthquake Relief Fund, Japan Society, NY.

Update from Miyako's gallery: As of May 1, 2011, we have raised the sum of $5,300 by offering Takahiro Kaneyama's benefit photo prints of Northern Japan to over 40 donors. The proceeds went to Japan Earthquake Relief Fund set up by New York's Japan Society, Inc. to help victims. According to its website, the Fund has raised more than $7.6 million by 18,227 donors as of May 19.

11/30/2010

"SHUMAFURA," "WHILE LEAVES ARE FALLING...," AND "1971" HAVE BEEN UPDATED!!

10/28/2010

I am still printing the stuff I took this summer at My Own Color Lab (@18 W27th Street). I'll update my website in the beginning of December. I doubt I'll get to show my new work anywhere anytime soon.

7/15/2009

I received a call from my aunt in Japan last week. Our dog, Kerry who appears in almost all of my family portraits died of old age last Wednesday. My family has always kept a dog or two long before I was born, and considers and treats our dogs as family members. He was a smart, little fellow: when I ask my family to line up & pose for me, he joins them by standing right in front of them & showing his side view/profile. I thought I was prepared for this because our veterinarian told us in the beginning of this year that Kerry probably wouldn't survive till summer. I hugged him more often than ever, and took pics of him while I was down there in January. But it still hurts when it actually happens. I miss him. I do very much.

Amtrak's ARRIVE magazine came out: the story about an old Hot Dog place in Mamaroneck, NY, to which I contributed as a photographer is on page 68~71. You may pick up the magazine at Penn station (Amtrak ticket center) or Grand Central station.

I usually go back to Japan at this time of the year, but I'll have to stay here in the US this year because my visa must to be renewed. I don't have any plan for this summer...I will probably just stay home....and study. That's right. I have to finish up the CPA exam. I haven't even been able to take the exam because I got so busy with my photography. Then in a few months I'll have to start looking for an apartment before my lease expires. Locationwise this place is perfect (46th St. 9th Ave). It's close to everything: the rental darkroom, B&H, the City College I must go to (for nothing so far). I got a roommate (two actually, did I say two girls?) for the first time in my life, which has been fun, but I think I will need my own cave. I want to live by myself; I think I'll get a studio in Manhattan.

5/18/2009

I did an artist talk a few days earlier at M.Y. Art Prospects gallery in honor of Asia Society's Asian Contemporary Art Week, in which I talked about my three ongoing series. I got nervous as hell; I don't even remember what I said during the artist talk.

There is another event coming up this week. It's a one-time only collaboration between visual artistsand musicians. I will be there. You need to pay $10 to get in, and I couldn't get free tix. Sorry:

NAKANAKA: JAPANESE ARTS AND CULTURE SERIES
FRIDAY MAY 22, 2009 | 7:00 PM One-time only event!
THE SHASHIN-KA SLIDE SHOW:
Photography with Live Musical Accompaniment

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHERS:
Kunie Sugiura | Mayumi Terada | Masayuki Yoshinaga | Asako Narahashi
Satomi Shirai | James Whitlow Delano | Q Sakamaki | Takahiro Kaneyama
Mayumi Lake | Pamela Matsuda-Dunn | Akiko Nishimura | George Hirose
MUSIC PERFORMED BY:
Kaoru Watanabe (taiko and Fue) / Deep Singh (percussion, harmonium) / Ty Citerman (guitar)
Photographers' Reception after the performance:

DROM ART SPACE:
The Shashin-ka Exhibition | May 22nd - June 17th
Hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 6:00 - 7:30 pm and by appointment
GENERAL ADMISSION: $10 [http://www.dromnyc.com]
Slide Show and Exhibition curated by GEORGE HIROSE and AKIKO NISHIMURA
DROM > 85 Avenue A (between 5th and 6th streets)
F train to 2nd Ave / 6 train to Astor Place
212.777.1157 | www.dromnyc.com

4/11/2009

It's raining outside. Today is the last day of my first solo show in New York. There was never a traffic in the gallery, but I have gotten positive responses about my work, made contacts, and sold books through the gallery and Blurb, so I am happy. Thank you all for coming.

I have gotten a photo assignment to photograph "Walter's Hot Dog" in Mamaroneck, NY, which was established in 1919. It's for Arrive magazine, a custom-made magazine for Amtrak. I enjoy doing this! I'll go back to Mamaroneck next week to finish it up.

3/7/2009

Thank you all for coming to the opening! The opening reception went really well, I think. It was rather a quiet night mostly because of several art-related events going on in the city right now, but we sold a few books+ a print. I am happy.

The show will be up until April 11th @

Miyako Yoshinaga ART PROSPECTS
547 West 27th Street, 2nd Fl.

2/15/2009

I have received my first blurb-made book, "SHUMAFURA." Its reproduction and color are far better than I expected. Copies (signed, of course!) will be available at M.Y. Art Prospects during/after the show. And the other day I finally dropped off my final prints to be framed (it'll cost me $3000+, which I'll have to pay). Now I can relax.

I have updated "SHUMAFURA."

The show opens on March 5th (March 5-April 11, 2009). Please, please come see the show. You will NOT be disappointed.

Reception: Thursday, March 5th, 6-8 PM

Miyako Yoshinaga ART PROSPECTS
547 West 27th Street, 2nd Fl.
New York, NY 10001

 

I am printing almost everyday for the show opening in March. Initially I was going to show "While Leaves Are Falling" in the main room, but I have decided to show "SHUMAFURO/SHIMOFURO," a new series I had done this summer in the main room & "While Leaves~" in a smaller space next to the main space. Now I'm deciding whether I should upload pics of the new series on this website or not because I am such a tease. You may have to wait until next March. Merry Chistmas!!

 

10/25/2008

I am typing this in my new apartment near Times Square. I moved into this apartment on 10/1. So many things have happened since I came back to NY, and I don't know where to start. Very few of them are good+I would rather not talk about those experiences, so I'll skip it. All I can say is that I had wasted so much time and money because of the apartment I used to live in and the landlord.

Now that Iam settled...well, not quite, but anyhow I can finally start printing the stuff I had done in Japan this summer again, and they are not bad...actually I like this series a lot, and as the gallery owner of M.Y. Art Prospects suggested, I think I'll make a book (paying out of my pocket, of course) for it before my solo show opens. I can have 10 or 20 books made, and she will sell them along with an 8x10 print @her gallery. I will add those 30+ pics to this site (Shimofuro section) once they're ready. I am only half way through.

I just came back from Tokyo a few days ago. I had a fairly pleasant flight (are you kidding? It was the best!!) since the airline company put me in business class 15 minutes before the plane took off without telling me why.

In July I traveled to northern part of Japan to see my best friend from college and my grandmother's little brother living in Aomori prefecture, whom I had never met. All of my family members including my grandmother had been there when they were young, so it was like tracing origin of my family, our roots, so to speak. I'll add pics I took in Aomori when they're ready.

Great news! I will have a solo show, "While Leaves Are Falling..." in the main space of a gallery called "M.Y. Art Prospects" on 27th Street, NY.

It'll open at the beginning of NEXT YEAR, the end of Feb through the end of March.

It's hard to study for the CPA and remain productive with my photography. Maintaining my focus during studying can be difficult. Plus, the show will come up in 6 months or so. It may take longer to pass them all than I expected, but I will get 'em.

I passed two sections of the CPA exam, and have two more to go. You need to pass four sections: Federal Taxation/Business Law, Financial Accounting, Auditing, and Business (Economics). Yikes.

One of my friends from the City College was visiting NY last weekend, and we hung out in the afternoon. She brought her new shadow, a very cute one along. We are the same age, and it's no wonder she's becoming a parent, but I could never, ever picture her being a mom. It just reminded me of how old I really was. Feeling rushed? Not at all....I don't even have a girl, ha, ha.

I have added some pics to "While Leaves......," though this series needs some editing. I have a few more pics that I like, which I think will be a part of the "Untitled" soon.

I will be updating my pics soon, but I'll have to print 'em first.

I can't believe it's Christmas already.

Russell Hart from American Photo magazine did a story about my work shown at the Japan Society show. It can be seen at

http://www.popphoto.com/photographynewswire/4843/family-secrets.html

Also, in the lastest issue (Dec 2007) of Artnews magazine there is a review of the Japan Society show, in which my name is

mentioned. I just found out about it yesterday, so I will go grab a few copies for myself today.

Thank you all for coming to the openings for the Japan Society show. It was crazy, especially the second night...the place was

flooded with people. This show really helped me reconstruct self-confidence as a photographer. Hopefully something good will happen.

I know, I know, I'll make something happen.

As for the 1971 project, I have decided to photograph the same people every few years to see how this project will look like. After

showing my work at SVA gallery last month, I realized that this project is relying too much on texts (words placed next to images).

The project is about the passage of time, and I'll somehow present it mainly through the photographs.

 

9/7/2007

I had to go back to Japan for a while due to family matters, and now I am back in NY. It was record-breaking hot down there, and

the workload was soooo heavy that I didn't have time to enjoy myself, but it"s always good to go back there. The SVA Alumni show

is opening soon. So is the Japan Society show. I"m planning to take the CPA exam in November.... Anyone, please tell me how to

keep yourself from watching Yankees games.

 

7/10/2007

Bad news: the Japan Society show will NOT be traveling across the US. Nor will it go to Japan.

Also, there has been a change to the exhibition schedule: Dates of the exhibition have been rescheduled to October 5,

2007 through January 13, 2008. Both President Bush and Prime Minister Abe will be coming to New York on September 25,

which will seriously impact their ability to coordinate a successful opening. Well, what can you do?

There is an opening event for Making a Home Exhibition. For anyone interested in coming to keep me company, please let me know.

Oct 4 (Thurs):
Member’s Opening and Preview 6:00 to 9:00 pm
Invitees: All individual and corporate members of Japan Society, selected senior staff from other museums.

Note: Guests of participating artists are welcome to join the Members’ Opening and Preview
on Oct 4 (but not Art World Opening on October 3)

*I will be in a group show, Super PHAT, an exhibition of work by SVA Japanese alumni and alumni. The exhibition will take place at the Visual Arts Gallery located at 601 West 26th Street, 15th Floor, from September 12-29, 2007. I'll be showing only two photographs from 1971 project. Come and stop by if you happen to be in Chelsea.

 

6/8/2007

My work will be published in a book entitled "200 Photographers' Portfolio" coming out in September, 2007 from Graphic-sha Publishing

Co., Ltd. (Japanese publishing house): 330+ pages in color. I was asked to send 10 images in a few weeks, and then the editor will pick out

several pics out of them. I'm deciding which ones I should turn in.

I have NO idea where and how they found me, but it doesn't matter. Apparently they saw my website, through which i received an e-mail.

I need more exposure!!

Thanks to Megumi whom I met at the accounting school I'm going to for the CPA exam, I got to meet 5 candidates (herself included) for the 1971 project. The photo shoot went really well, though I may have to rephotograph Megumi, and one of the people I took pictures of didn't come out well (mostly my fault). Do check out the new pics I did for 1971. One of the new subjects, Jennifer has a daughter named Izabell. She's a very cute one, who is also included in the pic. She made me want a child of my own, but I've got to get someone who wants to have a family with me first, needless to say.

I have been printing a few days a week for the Japan Society show, and am halfway through. I'm ALMOST THERE! I'll go to a frame shop next week.

I have another good news: I received an e-mail from Suganuma san from Recruit's Guardian Garden gallery (Hitotsubo-ten) in Tokyo, asking me if I was interested in participating in a group show opening on July 17th. Mika Ninagawa and 6, 7 other photographers will be included in this show, along with graphic artists (mostly illustrators).

Schedule pending: "Fellowship Winners in The Past" at Guardian Garden, 7-3-5 Ginza, Chuou-ku, Tokyo, Japan, 7/17/2007~8/2/2007, Opening Hours: 12:00~7:00 (Sun. closed)

I think I'll be showing some pics from 1971 project.

I'm planning to photograph at least 10 more candidates for 1971 project before I leave NY this summer, so please check me out from time to time.

Get busy!!

 

4/27/2007

It's 2:39 AM. I just finished adding new work. "While Leaves Are Falling..." has been updated, so please do check 'em out for me. It could use some editing, though. 9 pics from this series will be shown at the Japan Society show.

I'm seriously considering taking pics for 1971 project before I go back to Japan this summer; my goal is to photograph 25~30 people before the middle of July. I'll have to place an ad on Craigslist again.

It's been a while since I last wrote. I came back from Japan in the beginning of February, and have been busy printing and studying for the CPA exam since then. I had good time down there.......no, not really. My family is going thru tough time with court trial and all.

Soon I have to figure out which pics I will show at Japan Society show opening in Sep. Then, here comes the presentation: what's the best way to present my work? I'm planning to try different kinds of paper surface.

Should I frame them? If so, how? It would cost me a fortune, but I've got to do what I got to do. I let NO regrets come in the way this time. Apparently I screwed up big time with how I presented my work in the past.

Making a Home:  Japanese Contemporary Artists in New York
Venue: Japan Society Gallery, New York
Dates: September 27, 2007 - January 13, 2008
Curated by Eric C. Shiner

I have some pics I took in Japan, that I think are good enough to be included in "While Leaves Are Falling..." I'll update my site in the next few weeks. Now the question is what will I do with 1971 project??

*Yesterday I went to a reception for the group show I wrote about the other day, "Making a Home" at Japan Society in New York, which is opening next September. I met most of the artists who will participate in it at the reception, and can't tell you how excited I am. However, I have to admit I started getting nervous at the same time. How will I present my work? Which pics should I show in the first place? Thoughts have been brewing in my head since last month. Plus, I will have to keep up with studies for the CPA exam, you know?

*I've been helping Peggy Roaf, who used to work for Aperture magazine. "AI-AP" she's presently working for launched an on-line newsletter called "DART" in August, which mainly covers what's going on in the art world both within and outside the USA. I've been contributing as a photographer, and also as a writer from time to time. In fact I'll have to do a story about "Art galleries in Japan during off-season" when I go back there this Christmas. As DART expands its network and increases its subscription numbers+sponsors, they may soon launch a website. Anyone interested in subscribing to "DART, " E-mail Peggy It's free.

*You may notice that some images used in "While Leaves Are Falling..." are also seen in "Lightness of Being", but I'm still in the process of editing both of them, and eventually "While~" will replace "Lightness~."

*I'm going back to Japan to see my family and friends for a while. I'll come back to NY on February 5th.

Happy Holidays!! Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!!!

11/6/2006

"Let it go. Just spit it out."

This is what Ohki-san said to me over dinner. He was drunk and all, but that might be how he really felt about me.....and my work. I got upset first, but I couldn't utter a single word 'cause deep inside I knew he's right.

I have always been reserved, and was never good at expressing myself, which was why I chose photography/art to "trap" myself into the act of freeing myself. After coming to the US, I had learnt to express myself around other peoples’ descriptions of life, however it has dawned on me that there is still something that's holding me back from expressing myself as an artist freely and creatively. The same thing can be said for my relationships w/women. I didn't even tell Leslie how I had been feeling about her; I just let her go, and still can't get over her. I haven't changed a bit, perhaps.

Anyway, Ohki-san is going back to Tokyo this morning, but his solo show will be up until December 23rd. The show is entitled "Taiwan 1971~1978," and is shown at Sepia International, 148 W24th Street, Tel:212-645-9444: A series of black and white photographs about Taiwan taken in the '70s before its change. The work is very powerful, and is definitely worth seeing. Check it out.

I have another good news to share with you. I will be included in a group show called "Making a Home: Japanese Artists in New York" at Japan Society in NY. It starts on September 1st, 2007. This show is to celebrate its 100-year anniversary, and 33 artists will participate in it, that include Yoko Ono and other NY-based, established artists. I'm probably the only unknown artist among them. Thank you, Eric, the curator for choosing me.

It'll be a great show, and is a must-see!! Mark your calender now!!!

http://www.japansociety.org/

I have some good news:

I have got my Artist Visa a week earlier, which allows me to stay in the US for another three years. It took me only a month; I can finally go back to Japan to visit my family in December.

The 2nd news is that I'll be participating in the very first Milwaukee International Art Fair held at:

Polish Falcons Beer Hall
803 East Clarke Street
Milwaukee, WI 53212
USA

My work can be seen at Jody Monroe Gallery's booth.

Schedule:

Friday, October 20:
Art fair opening night, 5–9 p.m.
Performance Night, 9 p.m.
Darling Hall
601 South 6th Street, Milwaukee
Saturday, October 21:
Art fair open 12 noon–9 p.m.

I will update my site soon, very soon. I promise.

I have been crazy busy: I am in the process of applying for an artist visa + started studying for the CPA exam.

I have been re-editing "While Leaves Are Falling..." and "Lightness of Being." A new project, "Family Matter" will be added. Also, "1971" project will be modified: I've always felt like something is missing...BUT I WON'T GIVE UP ON IT, and hope you won't give up on me, either.

Taka

 

I have started working on two other projects (I'm not telling what they are about until I'm ready to show), while I continue working on "1971," "Midtown," and "While Leaves~." All the projects will be updated from time to time, so stay tuned. Again, feel free to e-mail me for any comments about my work. It helps me a great deal.

Thanks in advance.

Taka

I lost almost all original files when I upgraded my Mac's OS system to Tiger. That was a nightmare. I know, I know, I should have had back-ups of all the files, right? Anyhow, I'm redoing my website little by little. I have new pics that I want to add, but without the original files, I am unable to update my website. I'm working on "1971" and "Lightness of Being." right now. Please be patient.

Taka

"Lightness of Being" has been updated.

Do check it out.

Also, if you have any comments about my work, how I edited, or anything at all, feel free to E-mail me.

10/16/2005

I am resuming 1971 project.

Anyone on/outside this planet, who was born in 1971, and wants to participate in this project,

please e-mail me, E-mail Taka

(English or Japanese preferred)

Race, gender, religion will NOT be questioned.

Your cooperation will be GREATLY appreciated!

I will be in a group show called "Because I Dream, I'm Not" at Capusle gallery. Don't ask me where the title came from; I haven't asked Jef yet. (Jef is the guy who runs Capsule.)

What'll be shown this time is a series from "While Leaves Are Falling," taken at Hakuba, Japan.

The show opens on 2/17, and will be up till 3/26.

There is an opening on Thu. 2/17, 6pm-8pm.

The address is 521 W26th St.

I hope to see you there!!

I have rushed myself to finish up my first website on this day, and it's finally completed! I've also gained another year added to my years today!!

I am not really happy about the latter part, but a sense of accomplishment I have experienced when the final page and images were uploaded is beyond description.

This page, "News Update" will be used to make announcements on publication, exhibition, personal matter...etc, and will be updated when necessary.