KEN OHARA

The probing and repetitive framing troubles notions of similarity and difference, as the viewer abruptly encounters the eyes,  mouth and nose of a litany of visages. 

Using a format reminiscent of the techniques of passport photographs or mugshots, and yet withholding all identifying details, the encounter with the anonymous, probing portraits challenges ideas of classification, and constructions of identity.

Collected into a telephone-book like tome, Ohara’s indexical artist book was originally published by Tsukiji Shokan in 1970. When he saw the book, Avedon encouraged Ohara to take a copy to the renowned photography curator John Szarkowski at the Museum of Modern Art. In a subsequent letter, Szarkowski wrote to Avedon, “The Ohara book is a very strange experience indeed. I don’t really know quite what to make of it, but I think that somehow everyone should look at it.” The curator did his best to make this happen — the artist book was made available at the MoMA bookstore and in 1974 Szarkowski included Ohara in the exhibition New Japanese Photography. 

Nearly twenty years later, photography had expanded into monumental scales and Ohara revisited the series, selecting sixteen portraits for GRAIN (1993). Ohara prepared enlarged sheets from the negatives produced for the ONE series. Originally printed at 27 x 21.9 cm in GRAIN the works were recomposed into 9 by 9 grids, forming large 240 x 197.2 cm portraits made of a compilation of 81 individual prints.

Gallery La Patinoire Royale Bach presented the solo exhibition ONE along with the exhibition Autoportraits au quotidien with Ohara’s work in dialogue with Melissa Shook in 2023 and exhibited the work of both artists at Paris Photo that year.