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Domestic Scandals.
Photographs by Takashi Yasumura, with essays by Martin Jaeggi, Akihito Yasumi, and Shino Kuraishi.
Osiris Co.,
Tokyo,
2005.
92 pp., 36 four-color illustrations, 10x10".
The Japanese sliding door with a tree printed on it
divides the room; a pinkish short-nap carpet runs right
up to it. In blank contrasts such as this, these three dozen
photos speak to the kind of ordinary juxtapositions
found in any household, perhaps. But not in just any
home; this one is stripped down to frame this boring
stuff in the sparest manner. The effect is almost bewildering;
this is a simple interior, with familiar domestic
objects in it. So why does it all seem so alien? The minimalist
staging—often one or two things per photograph
against plain ground—is uncanny in its rigor. Soon
thoughts drift to the void, and one’s own surroundings
and belongings begin to resonate;
they take on a tyrannical
cast. But then some of
Yasumura’s photos break
over your eyes with simple
perfection that transcends
any stance: a rose in a bud
vase next to a stack of toilet
paper. It would be an optimistic
leap to say that this is some kind of celebration of
the everyday. But in the estranged domestic space
Yasumura creates, there is still a straining beauty. If
you’re not a fan of what some German and northern
European artists have been doing with their own mute
things and quotidian but well-lit spaces, don’t look here.
The essays that accompany the book have their own
largely consumerist interpretation, hinting at the surrender
of tradition. But with in one point Shino Kuraishi
seems to sum it up: Yasumura takes kitsch beyond kitsch,
and somehow redeems it. ALAN RAPP
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