Gentaro Ishizuka recently exhibited several different variations of images of his present subject -- the Alaskan Pipeline and its landscape -- in two Tokyo spaces, Shinkawa's gallery.sora. and the Aoyama space Spiral. The gallery.sora. exhibition was sparely installed, consisting of a set of six color photographic prints, each 94 x 120 cm, while the larger Spiral space afforded Ishizuka an opportunity to exhibit several bodies of work, including photos also on view at gallery.sora. as well as smaller photos, two film installations and a photographic installation several meters in length.

What distinguishes Ishizuka's new work from past series is his discovery of a stable metaphor, a grounding for his practice previously dependent upon nomadic tendencies. Where past work, including the well-regarded worldwidewarp (published by visual arts, 2003), featured images all too familiar from the countless other exhibitions, publications, web logs and periodicals devoted to photography, and particularly to the "travel photography" popular amongst younger Japanese photographers, Ishizuka's Pipeline series draws strength from the artist's newfound focus and ability to see in the pipeline a metaphor for his place within the world. A surrogate self-portrait, the Pipeline series stands in for Ishizuka the traveler and allows him to more clearly focus on the force behind his brand of wanderlust -- a sorrow resulting from his perception of an underlying tragicomic element of human nature. In a seemingly endless artificial structure, placed within the remote and inhospitable landscape of Alaska, Ishizuka is able to locate the beginnings of place and, perhaps, even a form of beauty within the world.

You went too far to north, 2007 Installation view, gallery.sora.

Of note is the formal difference between this new body of work and past photographic series. While past works were shot with a digital camera and exhibited in a rather informal manner consistent with a restlessness inherent in the work, the new series consists, on the whole, of mid-scale photographs printed on a seductively slick paper, either framed in aluminum with no glass or acrylic interference covering the face of the photo (at gallery.sora.) or "sandwiched" between two sheets of acrylic or more traditionally framed (at Spiral). In addition, the Spiral exhibition included an interactive multi-media installation -- Ishizuka's tent, in which gallery visitors were able to sit and view projected images from the artist's last trip to the pipeline. Rather than confront the viewer with a seemingly endless series of images, Ishizuka presents inviting photographs dense in visual content, curious enough in color and composition to warrant multiple viewings of particular photos, each one a place rather than a series of exotic but ultimately anonymous images. This strength is embodied in the artist's most ambitious work, the multi-paneled series of photographs focusing on the pipeline itself, in which the landscape fades to the background. From a distance, even the pipeline recedes and the viewer is left to consider an icy grid of whites and blues.

One wonders in what direction Ishizuka may continue the pipeline project. The artist has spoken of an interest in film and the Spiral exhibition includes two rudimentary but promising installation works which suggest that Ishizuka may continue his explorations in this new medium.