© Hiroshi Watanabe: Tsutenkaku, Osaka, Japan, 2003, gelatin silver print
Micheko Galerie Theresienstr. 18 80333 Munich France
Hiroshi Watanabe
Time Travels
Hiroshi Watanabe’s photographs were taken on his extensive travels through Japan, the United States of America, South America, Asia and Europe.
Micheko Gallery presents "Time Travels", a cross section of his B/W-photographs. Timelessness is what connects Watanabe’s photographic work. The viewer cannot easily put a time on his images. These photographs convey an ageless moment in life that unites the past and the present and brings us in touch with our history.
What motivates Hiroshi Watanabe is best described by himself: „I go to places that captivate and intrigue me. I am interested in what humans do. I seek to capture people, traditions, and locales that first and foremost are of personal interest. I immerse myself with information on the places prior to leaving, but I try to avoid firm, preconceived ideas. I strive for both calculation and discovery in my work, keeping my mind open for surprises. At times, I envision images I’d like to capture, but when I actually look through the viewfinder, my mind goes blank and I photograph whatever catches my eye. Photographs I return with are usually different from my original concepts. My photographs reflect both genuine interest in my subject as well as a respect for the element of serendipity, while other times I seek pure beauty. The pure enjoyment of this process drives and inspires me. I believe there’s a thread that connects all of my work - my personal vision of the world as a whole. I make every effort to be a faithful visual recorder of the world around me, a world in flux that, at very least in my mind, deserves preservation.“
© Hiroshi Watanabe: Gregorio Escobal, Ecuador, 2000, gelatin silver print
© Hiroshi Watanabe: Kabukiza, Tokyo, Japan, 2003, gelatin silver print
Hiroshi Watanabe, born in 1951 in Sapporo, Japan, graduated in 1975 from the Department of Photography at Nihon University in Tokyo. Watanabe is an internationally renowned photographer and author of ten photo books. His works are in the permanent collections of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Texas, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, Rochester, New Jersey, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles California and at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California.
www.hiroshiwatanabe.com
© Hiroshi Watanabe: El Arbolito Park, Quito, Ecuador, 2005, gelatin silver print