Jun Abe

Jun Abe (阿部 淳 Abe Jun, born 1955 in Osaka^[1]) is a Japanese street photographer and educator who lives and works in Osaka. As of autumn 2014, he has produced six books of photographs of people in cities, including Citizens: 1979–1983, which won the Society of Photography Award. He was the official photographer of the butoh dance group Byakko-sha (白虎社) from 1982 to 1994.

Life and work

Abe studied photography at Ōsaka Shashin Senmon Gakkō (now Visual Arts Osaka).^[2]

From 1982 to 1994 he was the official photographer for Byakko-sha (白虎社), a butoh dance group based in Kyoto.^[3][4] In this capacity he travelled extensively in 1982 and 1983.^[1]

From 2002 Abe has taught at the Visual Arts Osaka college.^[2] He has been a member of the Osaka-based photography collective running Vacuum Press since 2006.^[2] Since 2013 he has been represented by Hatten Gallery.^[2]

Books

• クリーチャーズ ...... 神の獣たち = Kurīchāzu: Kami no kemono-tachi = Creaturers.^{[n 1]} Village, 1989. ISBN 4-938598-04-3. Black and white photographs; essay by Isamu Ōsuka (大須賀勇) and artist chronology in Japanese.
• 大阪 = Ōsaka. Osaka: Vacuum, 2007. ISBN 9784990328801. Vacuum Press 1. Colour photographs.
• 市民: 1979–1983 = Citizens: 1979-1983. Osaka: Vacuum, 2009. ISBN 9784990328832. Vacuum Press 4. Black and white photographs; no captions or other text.
• 黒白ノート: 1996–1999 = Kokubyaku nōto: 1996–1999 = Black & white note: 1996–1999. Osaka: Vacuum, 2010. ISBN 9784990328856. Vacuum Press 5. Black and white photographs; no captions or other text.
• マニラ: August, 1983 = Manira: August, 1983 = Manila: August, 1983. Osaka: Vacuum, 2011. ISBN 9784990328887. Vacuum Press 7. Black and white photographs; no captions or other text.
• 黒白ノート・2 = Kokubyaku nōto: 2 = Black & white note 2. Osaka: Vacuum, 2012. OCLC 827210141. Vacuum Press 9. Black and white photographs; no captions or other text.
• 2001. Osaka: Vacuum, 2013. OCLC 870254914. Vacuum Press 11. Black and white photographs; no captions or other text.
• Busan. Osaka: Vacuum, 2014. Black and white photographs.
• 1981＜上＞ = 1981 (jō) = 1981: Top.^{[n 2]} Osaka: Vacuum, 2015. Vacuum Press 14. First volume of a two-volume set. Black and white photographs.
• 1981＜下＞ = 1981 (ge) = 1981: Bottom.^{[n 2]} Osaka: Vacuum, 2015. Vacuum Press 15. Second volume of a two-volume set. Black and white photographs.

Solo exhibitions (selected)

• 2006: Black & White Note: Box, Gallery 10:06, Osaka.^[5]
• 2012: Citizens/1983, Gallery Niepce, Tokyo.^[6]
• 2012/2013: Citizens, The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka.^[7]
• 2013: Black & White Note, Black & White Note 2, Place M Photo Gallery, Tokyo. Related to his Society of Photography Award.^[8][9]

Group exhibitions

• 2011: Citizens, Quad Gallery, Format International Photography Festival, Derby, England, 4 March–8 May 2011.^[10]
• 2013: Paris Photo, Grand Paris, Paris. Presented by The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka.^[11]
• 2013: Citizens, The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka. With Miyako Ishiuchi. Part of the exhibition Paris Photo 2013.^[4]
• 2014: FotoIstanbul, Istanbul, Turkey, 17 October – 18 November 2014.^[12]

Awards

• 2013: Society of Photography Award (Shashin no Kai shō) from the Society of Photography.^[13]

Notes

1. The colophon shows the short Japanese title クリーチャーズ (Kurīchāzu) alone. The subtitle 神の獣たち (Kami no kemono-tachi) appears nowhere other than the title page. Creaturers [sic] appears on the front cover and title page and also in the list of exhibitions. It appears to be a mistake, because (if it rhymed with "treasurers"), "creaturers" would have different katakana (most likely クリーチュラーズ); as it is, the pronunciation of the Japanese title matches that of "creatures".
2. "Top" is a literal translation of jō (上) in other contexts; and "bottom" is a literal translation of ge (下) in other contexts. In this context, jō and ge simply mean volumes 1 and 2 respectively of a two-volume work. (As is common for two-volume works in Japan, the two are priced and sold separately.)

References

1. Chronology in Creaturers.
2. "Jun Abe", Vacuum Press. Accessed 7 September 2014.
3. "Paris Photo: 14.17 Nov 2013 Grand Palais", Paris Photo. Accessed 7 September 2014.
4. "Paris Photo 2013: Ishiuchi Miyako, Abe Jun", The Third Gallery Aya. Accessed 7 September 2014.
5. 白黒ノート・箱, Gallery 10:06. Accessed 7 September 2014.
6. "2012", Gallery Niépce. Accessed 7 September 2014.
7. "Citizens: Jun Abe", The Third Gallery Aya. Accessed 7 September 2014.
8. "2013.7.29-8.4", Place M Photo Gallery. Accessed 7 September 2014.
9. Kōtarō Iizawa, 阿部淳「市民・黒白ノート・黒白ノート2」, Artscape, 15 August 2013. Accessed 18 September 2014.
10. "Citizens: Black and white images from noiresque streets of Japan", Format Festival. Accessed 7 September 2014.
11. "Jun Abe", Paris Photo. Accessed 7 September 2014.
12. "First Foto Istanbul Festival in Besiktas Square until Nov. 18". Türkiye Newspaper. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
13. "Prize of 'Society of Photography'", Society of Photography. Accessed 6 September 2014.

External links

• Abe profile at Vacuum Press