Kenro Izu: Seduction

Description

This limited edition to 15 copies comes with a sunning print signed and numbered by Kenro Izu. Kenro Izu considers his own photography, especially still life that he composes in the studio, as a sort of conversation with himself. The print of this limited edition features a mask facing to a pear. He sees the mask, any mask, as a magic tool that transforms the person who wears it and brings him to another dimension. It may even be a parallel world to the world where we live. At the time of taking this photograph, he was questioning himself about what is that the being behind the mask is seeing through the black holes for the eyes. It actually may not even be a pear. The photographer aims to capture something of the spirit or inner life of his chosen subject-whether it be a still life or an ancient, sacred monument. Izu describes this tension between capturing the essence and beauty of the subject as an "effort to hold myself at the very edge (before falling into the dark hole of seduction)." Seduction presents the results of these efforts: photographs by Izu of fruits, plants and human figures, all made with a large-format film camera and contact printed in platinum from 8x10 to 14x20-inch negatives.

Japanese-born, US-based photographer Kenro Izu (born 1949) studied at Nippon University in Tokyo before deciding to settle in New York. In 1979 he began what has become a lifelong project, traveling to photograph the world's sacred places. His journeys to Angkor Wat led him to establish a free pediatric hospital in Cambodia and found Friends Without a Border, a nonprofit organization to help Asian children.