Bruce Gilden (b. 1946) will have an exhibition of photographs at Silverstein Photography. In this visceral series from the book GO (Browns London), shot on the streets of Tokyo and Osaka, Bruce Gilden captures strange and rarely caught segments of Japanese subculture and underworld.
Typical of his work, Gilden elicits an ‘in your face’ confrontation between the camera and the subject, who is often fully aware that they are the focus of the lens. Accentuated by the use of flash, this combination creates a spontaneously charged yet intimate atmosphere.
In Gilden’s hands, the top hierarchies of the Japanese Mafiosi are portrayed as old world gentlemen with the palpable touch of both glamour and danger. The underlings, obsequious servants willing to do anything on demand, are the victims of Yakuza-style justice.
A leading street photographer with a cinematic style, the Brooklyn, New York raised Gilden has received many awards and grants for his work, including the “National Endowments for the Arts fellowships” (1980, 1984 and 1992), the French “Villa Medicis Hors les Murs” (1995), the grant from the New York State Foundation for the Arts (1979, 1992 and 2000), the European Award for Photography (1996) and the Japan Foundation Fellowship (1999).