MADRID.- Espaciofoto Gallery celebrates its fifth anniversary with an exhibition of Masao Yamamoto, one of the greatest contemporary Japanese photographers

The Madrilian Espaciofoto Gallery wants to celebrate its fifth anniversary with a great exhibition dedicated to Masao Yamamoto, today one of the most outstanding Japanese photographers. Under the title of "Small Things in Silence", the exhibition consists of 50 images divided into three series: "Box of Ku", "Nakazora" and "Kawa". The exposition opened on September 17 and will be held until October 31.

Unique objects in small format
Yamamoto is known in the world of contemporary photography for his poetic images that he always print in small formats (thus the title of the exhibition, "small things in silence") and which could be equated to delicate haikus. Those are images that the artist seeks to personalise to turn them into unique items. Yamamoto blurs the boundary between painting and photography, experimenting with the printed surfaces. For example, dying and shifting (with tea or some other liquids), painting or tearing the photographs. His usual themes are often landscapes, still lifes or nudes, but his imagination takes him to experience in that facets too. In recent times, he tried to create images that could evoke memories. On other occasions with his small photographs he built installations that showed how each image is part of a wider reality.

Born in 1957 in Gamagori City, in the Japanese Prefecture of Aichi, he studied painting before choosing photography in gelatin silver as his artistic medium. He began exhibiting in group shows both in Japan and in Italy. His first large solo exhibition, with the "A Box of Ku" series, was at Shapiro Gallery in San Francisco, in 1994, although the international fame came two years later with an exhibition at the Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York. Since that time his presence is common in galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, Japan, Russia and Brazil. His photographs have appeared in major international media, such as the New York Times and major art magazines. Masao Yamamoto resides in Yatsugatake Nanroku, in the Yamanashi Prefecture, where he enjoys creating his work surrounded by nature.