#zen foto gallery

Seen:  Kurata Seiji Vintage Prints Exhibition — Part 2: Lads ＆ Gangs

Who:Kurata Seiji  倉田精二

Where:Zen Foto Gallery,  Roppongi, Tokyo (map)

When:January 7 - February 5, 2022 (Open 12-7pm.  Closed Sun. & Mon.)

Zen’s 2022 starts with a great selection of Kurata Seiji’s vintage prints exhibited in the second half of a generous two-part exhibition.

Part 1, “Night, Alleys & People” was up Nov.27-Dec.25

Part 2, “Lads & Gangs” will be up from Jan.7-Feb. 5th. The images here are of a rollicking, spirited age of youthful passions and camaraderie- a time where that human longing for belonging was met not online but in-person, with some wild uniforms and hairstyles in the mix.

The work shown is a selection of prints from the photographer’s archive. There are some 35mm pieces, but the combination of at 6x7 negative and flash- and Kurata’s eye- resulted in pictures with extreme clarity- so clear actually, that they do what good photographs do: ask more questions than they pretend to answer.

Several prints on display share moments, and even subjects, with images in his renowned book Flash Up (1980)- but I would caution against any attempt at discount them as second-string B-side pictures.
One thing about Kurata’s 70’s is that they always leave the viewer wanting more- and here Zen Foto, as always, delivers.

Another thing about Kurata’s pictures- no matter how gritty or wild they might get, they’re rooted in a sense of affirmation for the human world one can often find in Japanese photography. Rather than moral qualms, it’s precisely that the world in all it’s contradictions and nuance- the “big” picture, so to speak, is worth photographing.

In 2013 Zen Foto published a new edition of Flash Up- regarding his pictures and life lived through photography Kurata wrote:

“And yet, this world of photography is amazing. Here is the strangeness of the unknown and the surprise of the unforeseen. Even though it lasts only a moment, this brightly shining band that stretches across the sky, it can tell the story of all existence, all affirmed and all accepted.”

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I can’t mention Kurata without suggesting that you read this wonderful piece by Mark Person on his friendship with the photographer.