Yutaka Takanashi began his photographic career in the late 1950s and was a founding member of the short-lived but enormously influential magazine Provoke. His main concern as a photographer has been cities, with their often claustrophobic landscapes. "'Kakoi Machi' (2007) shows Takanashi still wrestling with the difficult subject of a city that ruthlessly overlays anything quaint, charming or picturesque with new commercial development. These images show the unsightly aspects of Tokyo's constant urban renewal: construction sites, steel walls concealing them, roads blocked by traffic cones, buildings wrapped in blue tarpaulins and similar everyday sights. By focusing on these aspects, Takanashi seems to be searching for the city's essence, as though it might finally reveal some beauty. One image in this series, 'Ikebukuro, January 2006', shows an intersection with pedestrian crossings and the usual collection of nondescript buildings caught in light reflected from the gleaming glass frontage of an unseen office building. The chance alignment of these random elements creates a fleeting moment of beauty, suggesting that even this ugly old hag of Tokyo, scarred by too many facelifts, can still surprise us with an occasional lovely smile." —Marius Gombrich, Japan Times, 13 February 2009.