Hiroh Kikai - Tokyo Labyrinth

Hiroh Kikai
Tokyo Labyrinth

Published by Shogakukan, Japan, 1999
Size: 23.4 x 21 x 1.5cm
117 Pages
Hardcorver
Good condition

Hiroh Kikai's Tokyo Labryinth captures 30 years of the photographer's urban landscape. Taken between 1976 and 1989 in the old suburbs of downtown Tokyo, Kikai's images explore the urban landscape of cities without the presence of their inhabitants.

"Kikai's images combine a careful description of place with elegant abstraction; windows, laundry, pipes, and telephone lines are reduced to lines and planes. However rigorous his compositions, Kikai is essentially a humanist interested in people and how they live. He describes his work as asking the question, 'What does it mean to be human?' Kikai's images affectionately describe the details of human existence in one of the most cramped cities on earth, expressing the eloquence of the commonplace, the streets and alleys of modest neighborhoods with formal precision and an eye for the surreal. With an economy of means, Kikai's work projects honesty and a deep respect for the evidence of time and humanity."

Yancy Richardson Gallery New York excerpt from the exhibition press release.