Yosuke Takeda's 'Singin' in the Rain' Showcases Abstract Digital Photographs at Kosaku Kanechika

Yosuke Takeda's solo exhibition 'Singin' in the Rain' at Kosaku Kanechika in Tokyo, running from 6 July to 10 August, presents 17 new digital photographs from 2022 that explore light as a creative tool. The artist, known for infrequent shows, previously staged 'Stay Gold' exhibitions in Tokyo and Paris in 2014, also published as a book. In this latest collection, Takeda shifts focus from interrogating light's relationship to photography to using it for abstraction, with water as a central motif diffusing light into vivid, prismatic effects. The gallery is divided into a main space with ten evenly distributed images and a smaller area shared with an office, featuring works like '011801' with water droplets reflecting blue light. Abstract pieces such as '004321' resemble ink painting with dark blue streaks, while '005625' captures moving reflected light. Takeda's process likely involves minimal post-capture alteration, distinguishing him from artists like Wolfgang Tillmans who intervene more. Titles are numerical, suggesting a sequence from a larger body of possibly 230,000 images, curated to avoid viewer fatigue by varying color and texture. The exhibition marks an optical shift from camera obscura to dispersive prism, emphasizing purity in Takeda's disciplined study.