king fish - Reiji Yamasaki

Weekday 11:00 - 20:00

Weekends and Holidays 11:00 - 18:30

Mondays and Tuesdays Closed

commentary

Deja vu and fragments
For the photos of Yamasaki Reiji

What does it mean to be overwhelmed by deja vu on seeing a photograph for the first time? In our individual “purity” we are yet inevitably a composition of many copies. The fact is, it is only possible to embark any kind of artistic expression by first accepting that as individuals, we consist of facsimiles of numerous others. It may be a deliberate quote, or plagiarism. Quite frequently, in truth, it is an unconscious replaying of images etched on our minds without our knowing. The issue, maybe, is not one of old-fashioned moralizing about the good or evil of this, but whether the strength of the replayed thing, the oddness of its transformation, extends far beyond the original.

Like many outstanding photographers, Reiji Yamasaki approaches his day-to-day photo-taking with a kind of simple honesty. The resulting shots form several series and threads. Yet engaging conscientiously and candidly with photography does not automatically allow one to grasp the “truth of photography.” Yamasaki's skill lies in exposing this truth, reducing it to a collection of meaningless images, and recompiling it. Both deja vu and jamais vu are taken on board, mixed together. In the process of recompiling, there are those who fabricate a story, and those who take a collage approach. Yamasaki cleverly does neither. All we find here are accidental fragments of images. Looking at Yamasaki's “groups” of photos, it strikes me that perhaps we should stop psychoanalyzing photography for deeper meaning. Each in its own time warp: like the light from stars that appear to be on the same plane, but in reality are thousands of light years apart, Yamasaki Reiji's individual photographs shine in their own pleasing fashion.

Shigeo Goto (Editor/Professor, Kyoto University of Art and Design)

artist statement

Thinking to create something without meaning, I chose a more sensory approach.
This also meant taking that previously endowed with various sorts of meaning, and leaving just the spaces. The rest being shut away.
But saying a thing has no meaning does not make it meaningless.
Simply that I believe there is no rhyme or reason to sensation.
And why not have something that starts from there?

biography

Reiji Yamasaki

1986 Born in Ohda, Shimane.
2010 Completed studies at Tokyo Polytechnic University,
Department of Photography
2013 Grand prix, Tokyo Frontline Photo Award

overview

king fish
Reiji Yamasaki

Date : 19 September, 2014 - 12 October, 2014
Time : Weekdays 11:00 - 20:00 / Weekends and Holidays 11:00 - 18:30
Closed : Mondays and Tuesdays
Entrance Fee : 800 yen for over 18 (Gallery916 & 916small)

Reiji Yamasaki, the photographs For enquiries regarding
the purchase of the photographs, please contact the gallery.
TEL: +81-(3)-5403-9161 / FAX: +81-(3)-5403-9162
MAIL: mail[a]gallery916.com