A Japanese Restaurant!?, 2006
Lightjet chromagenic photographic print on Kodak Endura archival paper
70.0 x 44.5 cm
edition of 65
unframed
Kyohei Sakaguchi is a Tokyo-based artist whose work examines the significance of non-traditional and informal architecture. In the past few years he has documented an elaborate sub-culture of architecture that includes diverse types of temporary and semi-permanent houses built by homeless persons utilizing scavenged materials and sited in public spaces. In his recent exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery he presented aspects of his documentary archive and a replica of a “zero yen” house
Describing the zero yen house in this photograph, Sakaguchi wrote, “Although this one [house] resembles a Japanese restaurant, it is not open for business. A man lives alone in this house. The green plant and discarded pubic telephone help to further the atmosphere.”
Kyohei Sakaguchi, a 28-year-old Tokyo-based artist, graduated from the Department of Architecture at Waseda University, Tokyo in 2001. Though trained as an architect, Sakaguchi focuses on the creation of installation-based artworks and publications. His photo-based book Zero Yen Houses, published in 2004 by Little More, Tokyo, is the first in Sakaguchi’s planned series of books documenting informal architecture.