Photobook “what i know” by photographer Ittetsu Matsuoka. This publication features works from the exhibition “what i know,” held in 2023 at Taka Ishii Gallery Photography / Film. Alongside his work in commercial photography—particularly in portraiture and fashion—Matsuoka has consistently produced photographic works that capture everyday scenes, people, and plants encountered in daily life. Characterized by the unique qualities of analog photography, his images embrace soft colors, blur, and out-of-focus elements, creating a gentle, dreamlike tone that slightly distances them from reality while allowing all subjects within the frame to emerge as equally present. In recent years, Matsuoka has increasingly explored abstraction in photography. This book includes works such as “bloom” (2022), where particles of color spread like mist, and “frue” (2020), marked by vivid blues and organic fluctuations—revealing a deepening engagement with abstract expression. His images move fluidly between figuration and abstraction, at times dissolving into color and form. Influenced by a long-standing interest in painting since childhood, Matsuoka’s distinctive sense of composition appears throughout his work as lines, shapes, and fields of color that subtly structure the image, creating visual rhythms that also resonate with his earlier series. The works in this volume were photographed between 2020 and 2023, during a period marked by global disruption. Even amid social isolation, Matsuoka continued to turn his lens toward the everyday. These accumulated moments function as both personal records and shared points of resonance, quietly evoking memories within each viewer. Oscillating between abstraction and representation, these photographs open a space for new relationships and interpretations to emerge.
