The Container

•

.

“And in fact, artistic experience lies so incredibly close to that of sex, to its pain and its ecstasy, that the two manifestations are indeed but different forms of one and the same yearning and delight.”

—Rainer Maria Rilke 

Letters to a Young Poet, 1903-1908

Sex and art are eternally bound in an indecorous betrothal. I can show you Carravaggio, Greek orgies, shunga, Koons and Currin. I can delve into a formal aesthetic analysis of Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs or a discourse about the male-gaze in 15th and 16th century paintings of nude females and conjured muses. But it feels a bit like justifying, and really, the most important element in Shohei Miyachi’s work is not even the sex, but the conviction.  

Shohei Miyachi is a young artist with big dreams. Not like he would tell you about it. He is collected and restrained, like many of the staged sexual interactions he documents; perhaps introverted, yet daring, shameless, and terribly real. At first glance, it is so easy to make connections and references between some of his works to the subculture and rough-edged photographs of Daidō Moriyama, or to the sexually-inclined imagery of Nobuyoshi Araki, but what captures interest immediately, is the narrative Miyachi is able to construct in his photographs and series.

He has been taking his photographs for the best part of a decade starting with a series of shots in 2011-2014, later aptly entitled, Devotion. The series explores male-to-male sexual and emotional interactions and tensions, focusing mainly on one subject, and the relationship the artist forges with him. Miyachi is an active entity in the photographs—exploring his own nudity and curiosity in pseudo-staged tableaux shots captured with a timer. The works are poetic, somewhat melancholic, but set Miyachi on a personal artistic and sexual voyage. He has been photographing men and himself ever since: be it a peepshow on Third Avenue in New York, a sleazy cinema in Tokyo’s Iidabashi, sex toy stores, or as he rolls these days, Grindr—Miyachi is there to find beauty. And beauty he finds, in hordes.

With time, Miyachi’s photographs become more sophisticated. The poetry is definitely still there and the images evolve to be more complex, layered, and loaded. Visually, but also emotionally and intellectually. As in his the seductively blurry images of Rakuen (2016-2020), in that porn cinema in Tokyo, where he delicately constructs an allegory of desire, lust, and shame. With a concealed camera under his shirt, he documents his visits to the cinema, frequented mostly by middle-aged and closeted men. As the lights are dimmed, buttons in the salarymen’s white shirts pop open, trousers drop and sexual tensions escalate to erupt into bounds of wanton and disinhibition. Anonymous, blurry, and tense, the photographs beautifully layer bodies and reflections, trails of colour lit by the film screen, to piece together a story about secretive moments of freedom and quests for acceptance, even just for a brief moment, by another stranger. The images are potent yet graceful and elegant.

Along with Miyachi’s artistic growth, his physical presence in the photographs grows as well. Perhaps a testimony to a personal journey he is making. In his latest two series, 3rd Avenue and Untitled, he takes a leading performative role in the photographs. He is more invested physically and emotionally. The imagery is predominantly still staged and restrained, nonetheless. In 3rd Avenue he frequently uses his own body as a graphic representation to frame compositions and stage settings. The high contrast images, often taken with flash, feature Miyachi’s body juxtaposed with synched glass reflections of porn and the layered bodies of the men he invited to the confined space of the video booth. 

In Untitled, Miyachi revisits a similar intimacy to the one he created in Devotion, where roleplay and power dynamics are used to concoct relationships that showcase dependency and restraint. While extremely intimate and compromising, the simulated and staged sex acts lack the joy of 3rd Avenue, but produce some of Miyachi’s most compelling works—rich in subtext and emotion. Using a handheld camera, Miyachi directs and shoots scenes with men he finds on dating apps and online sites. The images produce a fascinating study of the human body in instances of comfort and of vulnerability. Overexposed, and often abstracted, the images capture delicate intimacy between the men and feature them in their innermost moments. Perpetuated perhaps by the more physical role Miyachi takes now in his photographs, or by allowing himself to spare some spontaneity in the staged acts, Untitled, unlike Devotion, invites the viewer to experience highly personal moments in the artist’s life, and gives an insight into the complex correlation he forms between artmaking and personal life.

The exhibition at The Container, Blow, doesn’t only mark Shohei Miyachi’s first solo exhibition in Japan, but also features works from various series, exhibited side-by-side, for the first time. This doesn’t only teach the viewer about his evolution as an artist, but also provides an opportunity to observe how Miyachi visually sees the world, and as importantly, how he negotiates stigma and self-acceptance. Beyond the poetic and intellectual properties of his photographs, Miyachi’s works are truly beautiful—cleverly layered images and shades compiled onto masterful compositions, with a sharp eye for detail and form. 

The photographs we are exhibiting in Blow, although taken from various series and explore a variety of settings and print sizes, are all still bound by Miyachi’s ability to share so eloquently narratives and aesthetics. The images are dotted around the space with minimal lighting, forcing the viewer to use a flashlight to navigate through the space in order to see the works. The dark and claustrophobic architecture of the exhibition space help to replicate the intimate and salacious atmosphere of a darkroom or a peepshow, and enable visitors to engage with the images.

Lastly, we are grateful for the partnership with Grindr on this project. Their support and endorsement not only enable us to highlight contemporary reciprocity between art and sex, but also help to promote awareness of LGBTQ people in Japan and to strengthen the local community.