A seminal figure in postwar Japanese photography, Daido Moriyama has spent decades capturing the visceral pulse of Shinjuku. His grainy, high-contrast black-and-white images dissolve narrative in favour of fleeting impressions, saturated with the tension and sensuality of the urban moment. For Moriyama, the city is not a backdrop but a living skin, with which he maintains a tactile, intuitive engagement.
In contrast yet in resonance, Los Angeles-based artist Sayre Gomez creates photorealistic paintings that interrogate the psychological and visual clutter of American consumerism. Through airbrushed trompe l’oeil and semi-fictional depictions of decaying strip malls, cell towers and glowing signage, Gomez reconfigures urban banality into poetic fragments layered with irony and melancholy.
From April 12 to May 31, Taka Ishii Gallery presents ‘Hellooooo’, a compelling cross-cultural dialogue between two artists deeply rooted in their respective cities. Curated by Matt Black, the exhibition unfolds across the gallery’s Kyobashi and Tennozu spaces.
Together, Moriyama and Gomez transform urban detritus into icons, blurring the line between documentation and dream, memory and myth.
