CONTAINERS
Statement
All photographs of “CONTAINERS” show containers in motion photographed from the side.
They seem as if they were photographed while stationary, thanks to a high shutter speed. The fact that each container is positioned in the center of the photograph accentuates this effect. These photographs obey a certain set of rules, and they do so with peculiar strictness. This strictness almost makes them look like computer generated images. The containers that Inoue photographed may be physical objects, but they are also the blood cells running through the veins of a transportation network that supports our everyday lifestyle. It is one of the responsibilities of a photographer to direct his lens to things we see often but are seldom aware of, and to create images that let us reflect on this contradiction.
I think it can be said that Inoue’s “CONTAINERS” can be said to symbolizes the safe, convenient, yet insipid and graceless world of uniformity we live in. The characteristic of Inoue’s photographs lies in the expressionless of the same sized containers and their backgrounds. They exemplify not only the “Deadpan of contemporary photography” that Charlotte Cotton speaks of but also the essence of modern systemized logistics and the city supplying its transportation routes. Transporting goods on the shortest routes, in the shortest time, at the lowest cost. These containers are, in the end, part of a system created to maximize efficiency, and their existence is inseparable from the vital, intricate network of high-speed motorways. In other words, what we can see in Inoue’s photographs are not merely the containers themselves but also the current state of the modern city and the logistics required to sustain it.
NO PARKING
Statement
A circular mark that suddenly emerges in a typical cityscape. Diagonal lines in two strong colors, red and blue. This is a road sign indicating “NO PARKING”.
Usually, when shooting a city, think about what to take while changing the standing position and framing. Then, subjectivity is added to the photo. A typical city photo is a landscape of the city selected by the author.
This work uses ”NO PARKING” as a sign for filming. By setting strict rules on the location, size, and orientation of the signs in the frame, there is almost no choice the author can make to the city. In short, there is no gap for subjective elements. The objectively reflected city is a pure and strange cityscape.
CV
Yusuke Inoue
Born in 1980 in Kanagawa Prefecture. Graduated from Tokyo College of Photography in 2017. Participated in photography workshop held by Osamu Kanemura.
I Received the JPS Exhibition Young Eye Award in 2016. The same year, he began shooting for the Container series, which already includes more than 4’000 individual images. Published the first photo book “Containers in Tokyo” by Case Publising in 2018.
Exhibition
2017 Brick Express / The White, Tokyo, Japan
2018 Containers in Tokyo / CASE Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
2019 NO PARKING / IG Photo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Group Exhibition
2017 Mirage ONE 2017 / Mirage Gallery, Kobe, Japan
2018 RAIEC TOKYO 2018 / 72Gallery, Tokyo, Japan