Tokyo-based Japanese artist Daido Moriyama (1938, Ikeda-City, Osaka) initially trained in graphic design before taking up photography. He trained as an assistant under Takeji Iwamiya and Eikoh Hosoe until becoming an independent photographer in 1964, publishing his first books Nippon Gekijo Shashincho in 1968 and Shashin yo Sayounara in 1972, both depicting the darker sides of urban life and the city of Tokyo.
Read MoreMoriyama has had a radical impact on the photographic and art world in both Japan and in the West, with his expressive style of 'are, bure, boke' (rough, blurred and out-of-focus) as well as the debut of recent colour work taken in Tokyo, and his typical style of quick snapshots without looking in the viewfinder. His highly innovative and intensely personal photographic approach often incorporates high contrast, graininess, and tilted vantages to convey the fragmentary nature of modern realities.
Moriyama has published more than forty books to date, highlighting the artist's experiments with reproductive media and the transformative possibilities of the printed page. Moriyama's achievements convey the artist's boldly intuitive exploration of urban mystery, memory, and photographic invention. His works have been exhibited around the world, in prestigious institutions and galleries, with solo exhibitions such as William Klein + Daido Moriyama, Tate Modern (London, 2012); On the Road, The National Museum of Art, Osaka (2011); Daido Retrospective 1965–2005 / Daido Hawaii, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (2008), Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Sevilla (2007), Foam (Amsterdam, 2006), Fondation Cartier pour l'art Contemporain (Paris, 2003), Fotomuseum Winterthur (Winterthur, 2000), San Francisco MOMA (1999, as well as the Metropolitan Museum, New York). He is a recipient of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the 28th Annual Infinity Awards of the International Center of Photography, New York, 2012, and The Culture Award from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie, 2004.
Text courtesy Reflex Amsterdam.
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