This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 4, 2011 - Yoichi Nagata's photographs on view at S. Carmody Photography read like a style primer on Tokyo club culture.
Nagata's solitary subjects stand out from their black backgrounds, allowing us to focus on their riotous costumes and body adornments: tattoos, fake eyelashes and contact lenses, piercings, wigs, make-up and accessories. While the costumes are unique, they fall into roughly defined, overlapping categories that blend elements of the past, present and future: There are mythological beings, Goth creatures, Lolita types, cyberpunks, invented superheroes, the kawaii (cute & adorable) and the shamanesque.
Nagata's photographic treatment of the subjects serves to enhance their otherworldliness: He employs filters and tools that produce a strange selective focus, softening certain contours and treating other areas to hyper-focus. Adding to the strangeness, Nagata employs a ring flash to light the subjects, causing circular reflections in their eyes.
These photographs are a selection from the Tokyo-based artist's Star of the Stars series, which has occupied Nagata for five years.
His written statement describes the club-goers as modern versions of the basara, medieval Japanese rebels known for their imposing costumes. But these contemporary club-goers are hardly social rebels, bucking the rule of law; instead, they work willingly within the strictly defined parameters of their social niche, producing an astonishing range of creative expressions.
Ivy Cooper is the Beacon visual arts reviewer and a professor of art at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.