Japanese conceptual photography from the 70’s

Both galleries 1900-2000 and Christophe Gaillard are particularly proud to present «Japanese conceptual photography from the 70’s», an exhibition devoted to this time of groundbreaking shift in the Japanese cultural landscape. Unfolding in the two gallery spaces, the exhibition focuses on the fundamental role of camera-based experiments in the practices of Japanese artists engaged in international conceptual art currents in the 1970’s.

In the turmoil of the end of the 60’s, Japanese artists, sensing that their traditional practices were no longer valid, began experimenting with the possibilities of camera-based practices, laying the foundations for contemporary art in Japan. The use of the camera was conceptually driven, reflecting international trends in contemporary art, including performance art, postminimalism, and conceptualism. Artists were led to explore the flow of time and the intangibility of space through conceptual photographic series and installation or performance works. By doing so, they succeeded in challenging the constraints of boundaries while establishing photography as a progressive art form. By testing the limits of image and object in diverse ways, the artists featured in both exhibitions propelled the medium of photography to new conceptual peaks.

After several venues (Marianne Boesky Gallery, the Japan Society, the New York University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) it is now time to unveil in Europe a fundamental and astonishing breakdown in Asian but also international contemporary art.

Spanning the two galleries spaces, the exhibition displays 42 works by 6 artists – many of which are shown for the first time in French galleries : Norio Imai, Kazuyo Kinoshita, Masafumi Maita, Kanji Wakae, Katsuro Yoshida and Masaki Nakayama.

This exhibition was made possible with the kind support of Yumiko Chiba Associates, Tokyo.

Galerie Christophe Gaillard (press release)