Shinya Arimoto "Tokyo Strut"
Zen Foto Gallery is pleased to present “Tokyo Strut”, an exhibition by Shinya Arimoto from July 8 to August 6, 2022. This exhibition marks Arimoto’s 4th solo presentation with Zen Foto Gallery, after his exhibitions “Tokyo Circulation” in 2016, “Tibet” in 2019, and “Tokyo Debugger” in 2021. “Tokyo Strut” is a collection of Arimoto’s latest portraits of people living in the metropolitan city as a massive ecological system taken after “Tokyo Circulation”. This exhibition will feature an installation of 24 black-and-white prints from “Tokyo Strut”, printed in the darkroom in the largest possible size, to commemorate the publication of the photobook under the same title.
In addition, an exhibition titled “Shinya Arimoto: Tokyo Circulation/Tokyo Strut” will be held concurrently at Art Gallery X on the 6th floor of the main building of the Nihombashi Takashimaya S.C. from July 6 to July 25. Please take this rare opportunity to view the representative works from both series.
“I take photographs. It may be nice to call myself a “photographer” or an “artist”, but to be honest, I cannot make my living by that, and my eccentric personality makes it difficult for me to get along in the world. Since I was small, I have always thought that I was defective for not being able to do the same things as other people, and I was overly sensitive to the social trend that made me think so. In a world where cooperation and reading the situation are valued, it is difficult for someone with a personality like me to live in any way… When I meet people who, living in such a world, still believe in themselves and have the desire to live, I feel really happy from the bottom of my heart, and I photograph them with respect and sympathy. I do not have a fixed theme, so I use a fixed aperture and shutter speed for most of my shots. I also measure the focus by eye and press the shutter without using a viewfinder. As expected, many of the developed photographs have unstable composition or unclear focus, and there are also many shots where the person’s face is cut off. But I don’t care if they have failed. I just keep moving forward, chanting the simple and clear words, “happy and lucky”. I hope that by doing so, I will be freed from the curse of the past and will be able to act more like myself.” ——Shinya Arimoto
