Japan

Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, artist

born 1951

Japan, 1994

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: chromogenic color print (Ektacolor™)

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 64.3 x 95.3 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 25 5/16 x 37 1/2 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 34 x 46 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 34 3/4 x 47 x 1 1/2 in
Weight (Weight): 20 lbs

Credit line: Museum purchase: Helen Foresman Spencer Art Acquisition Fund

Accession number: 1999.0146

Not on display

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Label texts

A suit is the uniform of the “salaryman” サラリーマン, Sararīman. The media often portray the salaryman in negative fashion for lack of initiative and originality. Because of this portrayal, communities may be less willing to consult the salaryman for his emotional problems, which often leads to clinical depression or even suicide. Corporations are often more willing to fire salarymen to lower costs, and many Japanese students are attempting to veer off the typical path of graduating from college to enter a corporation and become a salaryman. The act of escaping from the corporate lifestyle is known as datsusara.
From “Wikipedia”

Exhibition Label:
"Contemporary Photographs: Rethinking the Genres," Oct-2000, Rachel Epp Buller
DiCorcia captures scenes of urban life in his photographs. The experiences portrayed are not his own, however; rather, DiCorcia documents the daily lives of strangers in a near-voyeuristic manner. His artificial lighting highlights solitary pedestrians in a crowd so that they become unwitting subjects in passing. While his subjects most often appear unaware, diCorcia's lighting implies a staged nature to the scenes, adding to the sense of near-formal portraiture.