Yoshihiko Ueda

Michael Hoppen Contemporary is pleased to present the first exhibition in Europe of Japanese photographer Yoshihiko Ueda’s work. For this debut show we are presenting Ueda’s remarkable series Quinault – images made in the 1990s in a rare and ancient coniferous rain forest in Washington State, USA. 

The images Ueda created are potent with the seductive otherworldliness and glowing dampness of the wet terrain. Deep, dark greens and blues reflect the intensity of Ueda’s time in the forest and the spiritual connection he had with Quinault. 

“The brushwood wheezed, the moss shown an impossibly phosphorescent green that seemed to radiate from everywhere over the mammoth trees that strained heavenward. A manifold of living colors interfused, saturated with rain and light. I had discovered a realm of primordial chaos; I was witness to what was not for human eyes to see. To be sure, as I gazed through the viewfinder of the darkened box, I was shaking. I was overjoyed at my experiencing such keen excitement and apprehension yet anew.My hand, wet with rain as I tripped the shutter release, seemed to tremble slightly.This time, I whispered a few brief words of thanks to the spirits of the forest.”

Yoshihiko Ueda , 1993

Born in Hyogo, 1957. Ueda graduated from Visual Arts College Osaka, where he studied under Masanobu Fukuda and Taiji Arita. In 1982 he set out as a freelance photographer and has subsequently become one of the most successful photographers in the Japanese advertising industry. Ueda continues to explore his personal work with a commitment, an originality and an aesthetic purity that has been highly praised internationally.

His other main works include The University Museum of The University of Tokyo collection book "CHAMBER of CURIOSITIES", the portrait of Butoh-dancer Ushio Amagatsu "AMAGATSU", the portrait of the architecture by FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT "FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT", the portraits of Japanese writers and artists "PORTRAIT", and his family portrait book "at HOME".