Tomio Koyama Gallery Roppongi is pleased to announce an exhibition by Yoshihiko Ueda entitled “FLOWERS.”
Yoshihiko Ueda has been at the forefront of photography for over 40 years without being tied to specific categories or genres such as art and advertising. With a sincere and sharp gaze, he has captured exemplary moments showcasing various motifs in this world, such as forests, families, rivers, buildings, specimens, paper, apple trees, and portraits, captivating viewers with his constant, unwavering perspective.
At the moment, Ueda is actively holding several solo exhibitions at the same time: a retrospective exhibition entitled “From the Hip” at the Museum of Modern Art, Hayama showcasing approximately 500 works from his career; “Fruit” and “Tibetan honey” at GR SPACE TOKYO; and “Beside Time: Memories in Light” at OFS GALLERY starting August 21, demonstrating his unwavering passion for photography and creation.
At this exhibition, he will show works from his 1997 series “FLOWERS,” which he redeveloped on the occasion of his “From the Hip” exhibition after having himself rediscovered the charm of this particular series.
For more details on Ueda:
https://tomiokoyamagallery.com/en/artists/yoshihikoueda/
【On the “FLOWERS” exhibition and the works on display: the vitality of flowers that are about to be lost, and the power of sunlight】
“Around the summer of 1995 I began taking the vases my wife placed in rooms, and the cut flowers arranged in them, and photographing them outside in the garden, bathed in sunlight. This started after we moved house. On clear days the garden of our new home by the seaside was drenched in dazzling light. I was usually busy with advertising work, and always seemed to be jetting off somewhere. But during the occasional break, whenever I could snatch a solid stretch of time I would rush about feverishly taking photographs there.”
“Admiring flowers in sunlight might seem rather obvious, but out in the sun I sensed those flowers from indoors regaining their lost vital force and starting to come alive again, even those that were bent and faded. This rejuvenating power of the sun was what I hoped to capture, alongside the vitality of the flowers, in an act that involved bearing witness in plain light to the dying, and the force of life, and showing it to myself. My preferred light for photography shifted gradually from the subtle illumination of life hovering in inky blackness, to the kind that makes you want to study life beneath the dazzling rays of the sun. Consciously setting out to capture this light was the beginning of FLOWERS.”
(Yoshihiko Ueda, “In Sunlight,” “From the Hip” exhibition catalogue, Akaakasha, 2025)
As Ueda himself notes, this series marked a turning point in how light is transformed in his work.
This shift in artistic expression is closely tied to changes in Ueda’s environment, emotions, and perspective. He perceives the subtleties of the world around him in a sensitive way, capturing his feelings toward his subjects in the instant when the shutter closes, reflecting them in these works.
“In saying that, I have minimal interest in these blooms when my wife first puts them in a container, when they are fresh. They start to die off, leaving the survivors to have their stems trimmed short one day, for arrangement in a glass that casually adorns a corner of the kitchen. It is only then that I find them beautiful and endearing. I never used to feel like this. These are all feelings I only started to have after marrying and having three children.”
The dazzling sunlight and the withering flowers: these two contrasting elements exert a reciprocal influence on each other, and the dying flowers seem to take on a mysterious strength and a kind of willpower through the power of light. This is because Ueda truly loves and cherishes the motifs he captures, the environment in which they exist, and the time that passes there. This is the feeling that is reflected in his work, and it is what stirs the emotions of the viewer.
Art critic, photography researcher, and Doshisha University professor Minoru Shimizu made the following comment on Ueda’s work.
“To Yoshihiko Ueda, ‘things as they are’ does not mean reduction or simplification to the barest essence of what exists, the singularity of a given ‘this’ or ‘that.’ Instead, it represents the randomness of a world ultimately governed by forces, whether they be flows of capital or advertising trends. It entails embracing randomness, such as weather conditions, other aspects of nature, and incidents and accidents that can occur at any time. In this random world, there can be no singularity, and no single moment. Surrendering to such a world and capturing its moments of grace, its serendipities, chance encounters, circumstances and destinies shaped by coincidence: this is the journey of Yoshihiko Ueda, an artist of both abandonment and aspiration.”
(Minoru Shimizu, “Abandonment and Aspiration: The Journey of Yoshihiko Ueda,” “From the Hip” exhibition catalogue, Akaakasha, 2025)
Ueda’s perspective gives viewers the opportunity to project themselves onto the sunlight or the withering flowers within a moment that has been isolated from the distant passage of time, and the chance to contemplate various things. We hope you will take this opportunity to visit the exhibition.
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For press inquiries, please contact: press@tomiokoyamagallery.com (Makiko Okado)
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