ONORATO, Taiyo - The Great Unreal

Background information

"Over a period of three years, Swiss photographers Taiyo ONORATO & Nico KREBS toured the United States for several months and worked 'on the road' on the 'The Great Unreal' series. The photographic work deals with reality and the invention of reality. The geographic America is the scene and the breeding ground of the dispute. Mystique and demystification are just as important aspects as working with a rich inventory of visual icons that are constantly being deconstructed and manipulated.The working methods of the photographers Taiyo ONORATO & Nico KREBS are based on an intervention that is usually dedicated to chance and change. The sometimes crude, sometimes subtle interventions begin to network with each other through repetition and associative arrangements, creating a tense estrangement of reality that the observer reveals only hesitantly. Together with the book designers Megi ZUMSTEIN and Claudio BARANDUN a pure picture book was created, which allows a visual journey without any instructions. Narrative image sequences that approach the curiosity and restlessness of being on the road and at the same time show associative connections to the over-mediated American landscape. "(Publisher's text, © Edition Frey, 2009)

Book review

"What’s to stop you from hoovering up a pint of psychedelic chemicals, slotting that shifter into 'D' and peeling out towards America’s byways? Well, the law and, perhaps, a sense of moral obligation that keeps you from driving our nation’s public, human-filled roads while under the influence. Still, that trippy roadtrip would be awesome. Just ask Kerouac.  Now, if only there were some way to experience mind-expanding pavement without risking life and limb... Enter, 'The Great Unreal,' a stellar (new) book of photography from Berlin-based photographers Nico KREBS and Taiyo ONORATO with surreal landscape portraits constructed from bits and pieces of America’s infrastructure. All the trip, none of the felony charges.
Backstory: A couple of years ago, the German photographers took a road trip across the U.S. with equal interests in showing the landscape as life and dreams. Without resorting to any digital manipulation, the pair created brilliantly confounding photos, both familiar and otherworldly. All the contours are recognizable—sagebrush, dotted yellow lines, telephone poles—but arranged in such a way that eludes easy understanding. It’s mind-bending collage, the photo illustrations you could make were you supremely talented and nursing a mug of peyote tea.  So, while you’ll likely never write The Great American Novel or drive Route 66 on 'shrooms, you should take a moment to indulge in travel photography so captivating and unsettling, the pavement might well be melting beneath your feet. Dude." (© Ben Keeshin, in: 'The Trippy American Roadtrip You Can Legally Take', source: https://www.thedrive.com/design/2442/the-trippy-american-roadtrip-you-can-legally-take)

About Swiss photographer duo Taiyo ONORATO & Nico KREBS

Photo books by Taiyo ONORATO & Nico KREBS