Margaret Howell Tokyo is a suitably quirky location for a new exhibition opening tomorrow of landscape photography by Jason Orton.
Orton is firmly placed in the very English tradition of painstaking observation, elevating the low-key and reifying the banal in an attempt to give meaning and life to the overlooked.
Over the past ten years, the photographer has worked for numerous newspapers and magazines, also finding the time to build several ongoing portfolios looking at Britain's emerging post-industrial landscapes, as well as essays on Spain and India.
See more of Jason Orton's landscape photography in his latest show, An Essex Journey
As the title suggests, An Essex Journey chronicles a leisurely passage through a landscape, in this case entire length of the Essex coastline, a marginalized and unlovely place far from the metropolitan gaze. Travelling with the writer Ken Worpole in 2005, Orton's camera was turned both inland and out to sea, observing the communities and industries that existed on the shore, and other weather-beaten remnants of human habitation. These are pictures of another kind of beauty, a world away from airbrushed perfection, be it human or architectural.
As Worpole writes in his introductory essay, 'at the end of the journey we appreciated, more than ever, that the Essex shoreline is especially memorable for its obstinate refusal to conform to conventional notions of what is beautiful or picturesque. This landscape is singularly rich in history, and full of layered meanings and visual pleasures to those who give it the time and attention it deserves’.
-
Step through Rubenshuis’ new architectural gateway to the world of the Flemish painterArchitects Robbrecht en Daem’s new building at Rubenshuis, Antwerp, frames Rubens’ private universe, weaving a modern library and offices into the master’s historic axis of art and nature
-
Find interior design inspiration at Eba’s new Marylebone showroomEba, a specialist in kitchen and living room design, brings its elevated interiors to London’s Marylebone
-
An eco-conscious reconfiguration of space revives a London homeAn eco-conscious reimagining of a Victorian terraced home for a growing London family, THISS Studio’s Hartley House offers sustainable, spacious living
-
Deathmatch wrestling’s behind-the-scenes moments and bloody gloryA new limited-edition book explores the intersection between art and deathmatch wrestling at a sold-out show held in Tokyo
-
Heads up: art exhibitions to see in January 2024Start the year right with the Wallpaper* pick of art exhibitions to see in January 2024
-
Olafur Eliasson inaugurates Azabudai Hills Gallery in TokyoOlafur Eliasson marks launch of Azabudai Hills Gallery, in Tokyo’s major new district, with a show of elemental strength
-
John Pawson unveils first-ever sculpture in Tokyo exhibitionAt The Mass, Tokyo, British architect John Pawson stages his first solo exhibition in Japan, revealing his first sculpture and a new photography series
-
Reclaim the Earth, urge artists at Paris’ Palais de TokyoWe discover the group exhibition ‘Reclaim the Earth’, a wake-up call for humans to reconsider our relationship with the planet (until 4 September 2022)
-
teamLab: how a Tokyo art collective pioneered an immersive art boomWith an operatic intervention and a show at Pace Geneva, teamLab, the now-700-strong Tokyo-based collective that blazed a trail for experiential, tech-fuelled art, continues to value ‘physical interaction in physical space’
-
Anne Imhof: body language as tool, canvas and conceptAnne Imhof is one of five radical artists chosen by Michèle Lamy for Wallpaper’s 25th Anniversary Issue ‘5x5’ project. In the midst of Imhof’s carte blanche at Paris’ Palais de Tokyo, we explore how she has redefined the concept of body language
-
Philippe Fragnière captures the myth and magic of mountain lifeIn ʻBalancing Actʼ at SAI Gallery, Tokyo, Swiss photographer Philippe Fragnière explores the mythologies of his native Alps
