#6011, Tomosu, n.d. ©Yamamoto Masao I Courtesy Gallery FIFTY ONE

Gallery FIFTY ONE TOO | Tomosu: Yamamoto Masao, September 9 - October 28 2023

“Gallery FIFTY ONE is pleased to present the fourth solo exhibition of Japanese photographer Yamamoto Masao (°1957). In 'Tomosu' the artist shows new work, including a selection of photographs created using the nineteenth century Ambrotype process. The title of the exhibition is Japanese for 'to illuminate, to turn on a small light in the darkness’.

“Yamamoto's oeuvre has undeniably evolved over the past decade. He became known for his small prints - delicate objects that fit in the palm of ones hand or wallet so they could be carried around like a talisman - but in recent years his photographs have undergone an increase in scale. Whereas in earlier exhibitions his prints were mounted directly on the wall in meandering constellations in which each image was part of a larger story, the works are now more self-contained and the physical relation between the viewer and the photographic object has somewhat shifted to the background. However, the basic thought of Yamamoto’s artistic vision - the connection with nature and the attention to the subtle things that surround us and tell us more about elements of the universe that are invisible to us - have remained the same.

“Yamamoto lives in the Province of Yamanashi, west of Tokyo, in a house surrounded by forests and mountains. For him, beauty and happiness derive from living in harmony with nature. In his photographs the artist invites the viewer to direct the gaze to the small things that can be found in wild nature, from which humanity is largely estranged. Human beings who, moreover, make up only a minimal part of the universe, insignificant in the face of the constant ebb and flow of time. Yamamoto translates this philosophy into his work by giving his prints an aura of timelessness. Through experiments in the dark room, but also by bathing his prints in tea and tearing, creasing and scratching their edges, he deliberately gives his photographs and old, faded look, as if they were memories from times long past. These manual interventions - as well as colouring the edges and the subtle application of paint splashes with which Yamamoto, trained as a painter, explores the boundaries between photography and painting - make each print unique.”

For more information visit Gallery FIFTY ONE

*eternally almost #3,* 2023, two pigment prints in artist’s frames, © Richard T. Walker, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Fraenkel Gallery | NEVER HERE / ALWAYS THERE: Richard T. Walker, September 7 - October 21 2023

“Fraenkel Gallery is pleased to present NEVER HERE / ALWAYS THERE, an exhibition by artist Richard T. Walker. Incorporating photography, video, music, sculpture, and performance, the artist continues his exploration of the relationship between the individual and the changing natural world. In eleven new works, Walker reorders the elements of the environment, upending assumptions about humankind’s place in nature by embracing futile connections to the vast landscape. This will be the Bay Area-based British artist’s second solo show in the gallery’s 49 Geary space, following exhibitions at FraenkelLAB in 2016 and 2017. A public reception with the artist will take place on Saturday, September 9, from 1:30–4 pm.”

For more information visit Fraenkel Gallery

Untitled from the series Surface Tension, 2023 © Manjari Sharma

Assembly | Surface Tension: Manjari Sharma, September 8 - November 4 2023

“Assembly is thrilled to present a selection of work from Manjari Sharma’s latest series, Surface Tension, opening on September 8 in Houston, TX.

“Water is life. It cleanses, it feeds, it transforms, and it destroys. Deepening her investigation in her newest body of work, Surface Tension, Manjari Sharma explores our metaphysical relationship with water through diverse human forms submerged in swimming pools. These immersive and gestural forms highlight the fragility, circularity and oneness of our existence, turning the pool into a vessel for transcendence. The artist writes:

““A new world appears; Figures turn into landscapes, limbs into fins, and bodies morph and merge into peculiar yet familiar organic shapes and structures. A ceremonial splash is followed by a momentary lapse of consciousness, and new galaxies are born with every drawn breath. What are we but a series of star-crossed enigmas; a deck of cards in the wind, twisted by fate and held together, loosely, by a glue that has no name.”

“Born and raised in Mumbai, India, Sharma roots her decades-long practice in her cultural heritage, but extends her personal narrative to a more universal one. Her work is shaped by her curiosity about the inner landscape of the human mind and its inextricable, elemental, and sacred relationship to ritual and mythology. Sharma’s practice revolves around her deep-seated interest in studying, questioning, and celebrating these transitory states of human imagination, history, and transformation.

“This new body of work, which consists of painterly photographs and a radical new development in her practice—video works and site-specific installations—extends her metaphorical gaze to one of the most fundamental elements of human life and transforms her viewers alongside the subjects portrayed.”

For more information visit Assembly