On view in the Balcony Gallery for Florida Artists, 30 black-and-white and color photographs by Joel Bustamante (Venezuela, b. 1949).
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Bustamante enjoyed an international education early on in his career. He graduated at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale while working in the college’s photography department. Bustamante owned and operated an advertising agency in Caracas for a decade before graduating with a Master’s in architectural photography from Tokyo-based Nihon University. During that time, he created a photo exposé of the amazing modern architecture in Japan from the 1970’s through the 1980’s that was capped by the 1985 one-of-a-kind structures erected for the World’s Fair held in Tsukuba Science City, located north of Tokyo. The 30 photographs included in the exhibition are predominantly in black-and-white with a few color works.
Double-Feature Film Screening
Saturday, May 3, 11 a.m.
When looking at the skyscrapers featured in the exhibition, “Framing Tokyo: Joel Bustamante’s Architectural Photography,” an interesting trend appears. For those who are fans of Godzilla, you might recognize some of the buildings from the 1984 film, “The Return of Godzilla.” Bustamante was not the only one intrigued by the striking architecture in Shinjuku, a special ward of Tokyo. Film director Koji Hashimoto employed special effects to make it look as though Godzilla (or Gojira) was “destroying” these modern architectural wonders. As part of our May 3 Free First Saturday programming, we are happy to present a double feature of two notable Godzilla films. Following a brief introduction by Appleton staff at 11 a.m., see the original Japanese “Godzilla” (1954), followed by “The Return of Godzilla” (1984), that restarts the storyline and picks up after the original film. Free as part of Free First Saturday; no reservations needed to attend.
Topics and concepts presented at this event are for discussion purposes only and are not intended to espouse, promote, advance, inculcate, or compel individuals to believe the topics or concepts presented therein. Nor do they constitute endorsement of such topics or concepts by the College of Central Florida, its Board of Trustees, or any of their officers, employees, or agents.
Virtual Tour
Take a virtual tour of “Framing Tokyo: Joel Bustamante’s Architectural Photographs.”