NYAB Event - Akira Seo “fish out of water”

Akira Seo “fish out of water”

Onishi Gallery

This event has ended.

Onishi Project presents fish out of water, the first solo exhibition in NYC of Akira Seo’s striking photography. Born into a family of artists in Tokyo in 1968, Seo became fascinated with art at a young age. His creative talent was nurtured as he worked in satellite broadcasting in Japan and then when he moved to the United States to study at the Brooks Institute of Photography. Since 2002, Seo has cultivated his aesthetic sensibilities as a portrait photographer in California and Hawaii. Fish out of water features nine of Seo’s dramatic black-and-white and carefully composed portrait photographs.

To enter the ocean, to wait for the waves to rise, to glide beneath the crests… these moments in the water shape a surfer’s identity. In this exhibition, Seo presents images of surfers as they head toward the ocean’s infinite horizon, and as they proudly stand on the shore embracing their instruments of ocean riding. The monochromatic images are both severe and gentle, the crisp lines and tangible textures of the natural settings contrasting starkly with the tender human forms and soft shapes of the surfboards. Some models pose with their boards in loyal partnership, and others stand united as if one being. Seo notes that these surfers love the water, love to surf, and love the lifestyle it enables. They feel strong in their mastery of both land and sea, relating like fish to the water. He presents beautiful portraits of these surfers to communicate what the surfers say they would like others to see—strong, self-possessed, determined individuals who ride, with grace, the line between solid and fluid, restrained and free, powerful and vulnerable.

Today, Akira Seo lives and works in Honolulu, Hawaii.

[Image: Akira Seo “Troy” b/w HD digital C-print, 32 x 32 inches, 2013 (edition 1/5)]