Trending Photography News No. 16: The photography unit "System of Culture" reconnects photography and painting

The name of the unit sounds like a band. That's the name of the much talked about solo photographer unit "System of Culture." System of Culture (hereafter abbreviated as SoC) held a solo exhibition at Parcel Gallery in Asakusabashi from March 16th to April 14th, and simultaneously released their debut photo book. They present a series of conceptual photographs that take various motifs, such as classical paintings and films, and transform them into modern works.

Not only are the images well thought out and polished, but the photobook also contains a graphical description of the creative process that goes into making the photographs, a novel methodology that almost seems to reveal the algorithms of photographic production. In other words, these are some of the most striking, over-the-top photographs we've seen in a long time.

"I want to create something that photographers will dislike," says Toshimitsu Komatsu of SoC. SoC was originally a group of three people, but since last year Komatsu has been running it alone. He explains how SoC was formed:

"It all started when I went to a family restaurant near our house with my ex-partner on a weekend night and chatted endlessly until the morning. We talked about photography, art, movies and the latest TV dramas, and in the end I felt that the time was being wasted (laughs). So I decided that instead of just talking endlessly, I should try to create something. So I thought about what to create, and decided that photography was the easiest thing to start with because you can take a picture immediately by pressing the shutter, so I decided to do it. The very next day I went to IKEA and bought a table to use for photography, a tension rod at a home improvement store, and a roll of paper at Bic Camera, and set up a simple photography set in my room."

Later, another member joined, making it a trio.

"It's not like the three of us were always stoic about just taking photos. When we got bored of taking photos, we'd watch movies together, play board games, or we got into tacos, so we'd make tacos at home and take photos while drinking tequila."

However, while he enjoyed spending time combining his creative work with his hobbies, Komatsu recalls that "at first, I didn't sell anything at all." The situation changed when photographer Go Itami saw a zine created by SoC on Instagram and bought it. From there, he met Ma Sakuma of Rondade through Itami's introduction, and exhibitions were arranged in Kyoto and Osaka. He won the 2021 Japan Photo Award, and was contacted by the photography magazine IMA.

"We were featured in IMA magazine's special feature on Gen Z. It was a miracle. At the time, we had less than 300 Instagram followers, so we were probably the least well-known of the people featured. We were then selected for the VOCA exhibition at the Ueno Royal Museum, and then we were booked for a solo exhibition at CALM & PUNK GALLERY in Nishi-Azabu."

SoC has seen a steady increase in the number of exhibitions, but he has also adapted to the sudden changes in his environment, learned how to create concepts, and eagerly acquired knowledge about art, and this solo exhibition at parcel is the culmination of all of this.

"The Parcel series was created from a critical stance towards existing photographs. I am attempting what could be called a photographic narrative theory. Arranging photographs from left to right, or what is called a photographic story, cannot compete with film or novels. It is also a question of the narrative nature of photography."

In addition to the narrative quality of photographs, Komatsu has another obsession.

"When I was in university, I saw photo books by Nobuyoshi Araki and Daido Moriyama, and I felt like I couldn't surpass them. Snapshots are the mainstream in Japanese photography, and I thought it would be difficult for me to create new snapshots that would surpass theirs. Then, while chatting with a former partner at a family restaurant, we got on the subject of an advertising photographer called Andrew B. Myers. Myers uses props and flashes to take solid shots, and I thought his approach was cool. Influenced by him, I started out not with Japanese-style snapshots, but with painterly photographs, the kind of thing that photographers tend to dislike."

The desire to be disliked leads to a focus on still life

"The fact that we started out with still life photography also helped bring photography closer to painting. For a photographer, it's important to know how far you can distance a photograph from painting. We, on the other hand, tried to get closer to painting."

Komatsu believes that there is still much that photographers can learn from Western still life painting.

"Lighting techniques and how to create a situation, whether to make it surreal or everyday, how to position the motif, how to express three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional space, etc. I think Renaissance oil painting is very similar to photography. Photography is an offshoot of painting, so I think the roots are the same. So it seems strange for a photographer to reject painting. I actually think there is meaning in reconnecting photography and painting."

According to contemporary photography art researcher Kita Keiju, SoC is not only detached from photography but also from painting.

"Up until now, photography has been about transforming the real world (three dimensions) into an image (two dimensions), but Komatsu's work elevates the linguistic structure (one dimension) derived from narratology into an image (two dimensions). The fact that Komatsu is referencing not the three-dimensional real world but the one dimension of language reverses the structure of photography, which is originally thought to create two-dimensional art by moving from a higher dimension to a lower dimension (two dimensions). Even though he is creating works that also move towards two dimensions, his work is completely different from that of traditional photographers. This is the singularity of SoC's work. It cannot be judged by the image alone. In other words, his work confronts the conceptual aspects of SoC."

SoC Komatsu gives the impression of being a photographer with a strong concept, but he is actually a very easy-going person who enjoys the process of creating.

"I think it's fun to observe other media or styles of expression while using photography as my central focus. It was only recently, while I was working on 'Book 2', that I became aware of this. I feel that my work is something that is born out of the process of play, rather than as a message of some kind."

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