Masao Yamamoto in Moscow Art Gallery Pobeda, by UzVer kms
Masao Yamamoto is best known for his small hand-worked gelatin silver prints, which encourage the viewer to engage with photography as a tactile experience. The sensual surfaces of his photographs, which he distresses and delicately tones and colors, contrast with the ephemeral moments he explores in his imagery creating nuanced photographic objects. Yamamoto’s photographs are often compared to Japanese Haiku, short poems that derive their power from simple, direct images drawn from nature. Each image is part of a larger series of photographs such as A Box of Ku, Nakazora and Kawa=Flow. Assemblage is also very important to Yamamoto’s practice, and he has created unique installations of his photographs for museum and gallery exhibitions.
Yamamoto was born in 1957 in Gamagori city, Aichi Prefecture, near the center of Honshu, the main island of Japan. He studied painting before taking up photography full time in 1993. He has published over a dozen books, most recently Tori (Radius Books, 2016) and Poems of Santoka (Galerie Vevais, 2016). Other publications include: Small things in silence, (Editorial RM, 2014); KAWA=Flow (Kochuten Books, 2011); YAMAMOTO MASAO (21st Editions, 2011); Fujisan, (Nazraeli Press, 2008); é (Nazraeli Press, 2005); Omizuao (Nazraeli Press, 2003); Santoka, (Harunatsuakifuyu Sousho, Japan, 2003); The Path of Green Leaves, (Nazraeli Press, 2002) and A Box of Ku (Nazraeli Press, 1998). Yamamoto’s work has been exhibited at galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, Japan, Russia and Brazil. His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Photonews, Black and White Magazine, Unseen, and other publications and blogs.
Masao Yamamoto’s photographs are included in the permanent collections of the Princeton University Art Museum; Harvard University Art Museums; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Philadelphia Museum of Art; International Center of Photography, New York; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; the Sir Elton John Collection, the J.P. Morgan Chase Art Collection, and many other private, corporate and public collections.
Yamamoto lives in Yatsugatake Nanroku, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan where he enjoys creating his work while being close to nature.